A Different Team Ten
by angelslaugh
Summary: It's not rational to like Naruto, Shina didn't even know her. But she liked Naruto. And she liked her enough to disobey her father. Fem!Shino (Shina), Fem!Naruto
1. Chapter 1

**This is basically in response to a review I got. I figured why not give another character the spotlight? So a Fem!Shino (Shina) was born.**

 **This is a foray into new territory, so Shina is OOC. As stated by the pairing above, it IS a Shina/Naruto/Shikamaru thing...**

 **I have no idea what in the hell I was thinking, okay?**

 **~:~**

She's like the sun.

For a long moment, Shina stared at her through the typical sunglasses of her clan, the Aburame.

There was no _rationality_ that came with the whirlwind of _illogical_ Uzumaki Naruto.

Shina loved _rational_ things. Things that she could dismiss easily.

But she could not dismiss Uzumaki Naruto, because the other girl shone out in the class as the class clown, as the dead last.

There was no rationality to Shina's next actions. Naruto was sitting all alone, and she had a goofy grin on her face.

Shina was glad her jacket hid her face.

"Naruto-san." Shina was brought up to be polite and distant to her peers. She'll be assigned to a tracking squad, anyway; there was no use in being in any other squad.

She was also brought up to look at all the facts, something her father obviously did not do when looking at Naruto when he was warning Shina away.

Shina mentally did the math before today. The answer was, of course, _obvious._

"May I sit here?" she asked politely as soon as she looked up.

Naruto's blue eyes widened with shock.

"S-sure," she stuttered. "But - didn't your dad -?"

"I have come to the appropriate conclusions," Shina said in her monotone. "It is illogical for my father to request me not to be friends with you, if, of course, you accept my offer of friendship." Shina waited for a moment.

Her thoughts proved correct - Uzumaki Naruto did indeed have knowledge of the bijuu inside her.

"Okay," the other girl said, though her face was guarded.

"If I make you uncomfortable with my bugs, I understand," Shina added after a moment. "But it is a fact that my bugs settle better around you."

Shina was very uncomfortable, but she was not going to let that stop her from befriending a fellow student.

"I love your bugs!" Naruto blurted.

Shina nodded and sat next to her.

Naruto didn't have much in the way of lunch. Wilting lettuce leaves was all she had, with a few large pieces of cheese.

Shina had already eaten half of her pre-prepared bento.

"Here." Shina held out the remains of her food. "I already ate half of it. It would not be logical for you to finish the day starving."

Shina was very glad she had prepared herself through observations. Naruto was a very touchy person, as proven by the hug Naruto gave her.

Shina was glad she was wearing her jacket.

~:~

Aburame Shibi looked at his daughter.

"Did you befriend any children your age?"

"Yes." His daughter's monotone answer made him hope. Shibi quashed that hope as Shira entered.

"Who?" Shira asked, smiling. As Shibi's wife, she was not a clan member. He loved her for her personality.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

Shina's words made his thoughts about possible alliances halt.

"I ordered you not to." His voice was calm.

His daughter's black eyes, no longer hidden by the sunglasses they did not wear in the compound, turned to him. Blankness was in them.

"You did."

"Disobeying me was not a logical choice." He tried to think -

"Uzumaki Naruto is human." His daughter had a monotone, no tones or inflections. So why did he think she sounded _annoyed?_ "She was born on October 10, nine years ago."

Shira stared at Shina with a hidden smile.

 _Why was his wife smiling?_

"The child will let the monster loose -" began Shibi, only to be cut off by his daughter's chopsticks snapping in half.

She literally calmly snapped the two utensils in half, her eyes as calm as ever.

"If she was going to let the 'monster' loose, she would have done it years ago."

Shina stood. Shibi knew Shira would have added the 'moron' that was so conspicuously hanging off the end of Shina's sentence.

"It is illogical to fear something that has not happened," Shina added, bowing. "Father."

She left the room.

Shira snorted.

"I knew that girl was related to me."

Shibi simply blinked.

~:~

Shikamaru was surprised, to say the least, when the heiress of the Aburame clan approached him, the blonde everyone knew right behind her.

"Nara-san, I must ask you something as heiress of the Aburame clan," Shina began, only to have Shikamaru sigh and wave lazily.

"Shikamaru, Aburame-san! I think being in the same class means we can call each other by our real names, yeah?"

Shina stared at him for a moment (he thought. He couldn't really see with those sunglasses on.

"Indeed. Then it is only logical that you should call me Shina. I would like your help in teaching Naruto-san to read."

Shikamaru opened his mouth to ask, _can't her parents do that?_

No, they couldn't.

"As you know, my father and I are not on the best of terms concerning my decision." Yep, his father had made a passing comment about that.

Shikamaru sighed.

"Yeah, I'll help you."

Shina bowed. "I am in your debt, Shikamaru-san."

Naruto bowed, too, unusually silent.

"Please do not bow," Shina said unexpectedly. "You are strange when polite."

Naruto chuckled, looking a little sheepish.

"Sorry," she said, rubbing the back of her neck. "S'just I'm trying to be more formal. Ky - er. Jiji says it's polite, -ttebayo."

"You know you don't have to pretend you're not talking to him in front of us," Shikamaru grumbled, well aware Naruto was talking to her inner demon. "Everyone with half a brain in this village knows."

"Then nobody but you, Iruka-sensei, and I have half a brain," Shina said flatly. "Though I suppose Iruka-sensei blinds himself to that fact to make it a little easier."

"Oh," Naruto said, looking sad.

"A lot of people hate you for what the Kyuubi did," Shina said.

Shikamaru stared at her. "Are you crazy?"

"I did not break the Third's Law," Shina said placidly.

( _Of course not!_ Aburames _love_ technicalities!)

"I guess not," allowed Shikamaru. "Let's teach her to read."

"I suppose we shall meet at Naruto's accommodations," Shina said blandly. "If you try to hide it from me, know that all of my classmates have a bug placed on them for security purposes," she added to Naruto. "My father likes to make certain I am safe. My mother was the one to give me your address," Shina finished, her left hand twitching.

Shikamaru mentally cataloged that.


	2. Chapter 2

"Shina."

Shina was leaving the dinner table again after another silent meal when her father spoke.

"I will reserve judgment until you bring her for dinner this weekend," Shibi said after an uncharacteristic silence.

"Thank you, Father." Shina paused. "Might I bring Nara Shikamaru as well?"

Her father's brown eyes bore into hers.

"We are teaching Naruto to read," Shina specifies.

"I see." Her father paused. "Permission granted."

~:~

"My father wants you at dinner tomorrow." Shina figured it would be better to tell her outright rather than in a roundabout way.

Naruto choked on her noodles.

"What?!"

Shina nodded. "I did not tell you yesterday because, logically, it would have made you nervous and uneasy." Naruto stared at her for a long moment, then laughed a little.

"Do I bring anything?"

Shina shook her head. "Shikamaru-san should be bringing a bouquet. It is simply for my mother, as clan tradition dictates."

Naruto frowned.

"Which brings me to ask you a question," Shina added. "Your father must have been the Fourth Hokage, which leads me to assume you are truly part of the Uzumaki clan. Furthermore, your mother must have been Uzumaki Kushina. Am I correct?"

Naruto gave her the most genuine smile yet.

"You're smart," she said with a chuckle.

~:~

Shibi is exhausted. Of course he doesn't show it. Meetings with the civilians always gave him headaches; Shira knew this. Most likely Shira would be at home right then, getting a cold compress ready.

"- final matter. Shibi-san, Shikaku-san, we have heard rumors of your children befriending the demon child."

Of _course_ it had to be Haruno to bring this up.

"That's Aburame-san and Nara-san to you, Haruno-san," Shikaku said in an amicable tone.

(Shibi knew better; nobody on the council liked that bitch. Even Danzou, who agreed with her sometimes, couldn't stand her. The Professor's smile strained a little before he reeled it in; the Hokage had no knowledge of this?)

"Well?" Haruno said, impatient.

"My child has eyes," Shibi said when Shikaku said nothing. He stood. "If you'll forgive me, I have a dinner to go to."

"A dinner is more important than this council?" Haruno asked in that whiny voice.

Shibi looked at her directly.

"Not all of us decide to waste their lives getting into other peoples' business, Haruno-san."

He dispersed in a cloud of bugs.

(Shibi hated the meetings so much he used a clone. And better yet? He doubted even Danzou knew that.)

~:~

Nara Shikaku gave the Aburame head a silent applaud.

"And you, Nara-san?" The Hokage smiled at him genially.

Shikaku sighed.

"Because my kid's not an idiot, either." He didn't add the _like you_ he so _desperately_ wanted to add.

The Hokage looked like he was having trouble not laughing at everyone else as the meeting ended.

~:~

Shina opened the door to her home, sunglasses off.

Naruto held up some wine, while Shikamaru held a pretty bouquet.

Naruto and Shina both exchanged amused glances - hanakotoba was useless for the serious shinobi, but Naruto and Shina had both participated enough to pass it. Well, _Naruto_ gave her an amused glance and Shina gave her the typical blank one.

"Your eyes are pretty, Shina!" Naruto said, smiling at her.

Shina blinked.

"Thank you," she said.

They settled down, Shira taking the bouquet. Naruto ate her food slowly, sneaking glances at Shina.

"Apologies," Shibi said suddenly, starting the three children. "I give you my apologies, Uzumaki-san. I did not expect that you would make such a good impression on Shina."

Naruto blinked stupidly. "Ehehehe, Aburame-sama! I'd say she made the best of impressions on me more than I did on her."

"I told her not to befriend you, Uzumaki-san." Naruto froze. Her fork trembled. "My daughter disobeyed me. She had never done so before you. I know that Shina must be an heiress, but she is also quite alone." Shibi nodded to Shikamaru. "I would have used your friendship with my daughter to gain an alliance."

Naruto looked horrified.

"It is commonplace in clans," Shira said, her emotional voice making Naruto blink even more. "Shibi is practical. Shina is also my daughter even as she is Shibi's."

"Okay," Naruto nodded. She hesitated. "Was the Uzumaki a clan?"

Shira paused.

"Yes," she answered quietly. "Shina did not tell you?"

"I felt it was more Father's place to," Shina admitted. "Shikamaru did not explain it, either."

Her father glanced at her.

"Tattling, daughter?"

"Simply explaining, Father," Shina replied blankly.

"Shina told me about my parents."

Shibi and Shira glanced at their daughter.

"You broke -"

"He specifically said, as you told me, all _present must say nothing,_ " Shina said. "I was technically only barely formed at that point in time. Therefore, I was not present and therefore I felt it was my duty to tell her. The Third's Law pertains to the ninja and civilians present at the time. I inferred it to mean I was breaking no law, as at the time of the Kyuubi fight I was not present."

"Weren't you alive?" Naruto frowned. "You're my age..."

"I was born in January... After you," Shina responded slowly.

Naruto swallowed. "Oh," she said meekly.

"Either way, technicalities aside, you could have gotten in trouble," her father said in a strict tone. He _smiled._ "Good job, Shina."

Shina stared at her father.

"Mother, is it illogical to assume my father's headache from the council has gotten to his head?" questioned the Aburame heiress.

Shira chuckled, but did not answer.

Instead, she turned to Naruto.

"Where did you get the wine?"

"The store," Naruto said after swallowing her food. "I had to use a _henge_ 'cause they wouldn't sell it to me."

Shira chuckled.

~:~

Yoshino did not truly expect much of manners from the other clan heiress, but as custom dictated, a bundle of flowers.

She did not ask where Naruto got the wine from.

Shikamaru bowed at the jacketed Aburame and at the Uzumaki; Yoshino warmly welcomed both in her home.

"Aburame-san, Uzumaki-san! Welcome!" she said, smiling without reserve. "I'm afraid Shikaku is busy making dinner!" She called into the house.

"Nara-sama," Naruto said with a hesitant smile.

"Nara-sama," Aburame Shina said with... Well, Yoshino didn't know if Aburame smiled, so... Yoshino assumed she was smiling.

"Please, call me Yoshino!" Yoshino smiled. "Come in!"


	3. Chapter 3

Shina sighed with relief when she got home.

Her father was in the living room, the Hokage himself in the room.

"Hokage-sama!" Shina was tired, sure, but she knew to respect the Hokage.

"Shina-chan," the Hokage said with a genial smile. "I was just speaking to your father."

Shina did not let him know how wary she was feeling at the moment.

"Am I in trouble?" she questioned.

"No, my dear." The Hokage stood. "I do hope you and Naruto continue to be friends."

"I find it illogical to hope," Shina said flatly. "We will either continue to be friends, or we will not."

The Hokage chuckled. "Well said, Shina-chan. Aburame-san, I must leave now."

Shina bowed as the Hokage vanished.

Her father removed his sunglasses.

"The Hokage rarely makes house calls," Shina pointed out obviously.

"Indeed," Shibi said. "We shall train tomorrow, Shina."

She took that as it was, a dismissal.

~:~

They became very strong friends; however, no matter how much they tried, they could not get Shina to crack a smile - to laugh. Or to speak in anything but her monotone.

All three of them had average grades, and with the three learning their clan arts - Naruto herself diving into the theory of sealing - they would become stronger.

But of course, Shina and Shikamaru had to act like the clan heirs they were and do what was _expected._ What was expected of Shino was to pursue tracking, be a team that was on the sidelines.

Shikamaru? Second liner. He was supposed to be part of the infamous Ino-Shika-Cho trio in their generation.

And Naruto was expected to be the dead last, a loudmouth, and a troublemaker.

So when teams were assigned, everyone was in for a huge surprise.

"Team Seven: Uchiha Sasuke..." Iruka-sensei trailed off in surprise. "Yamanaka Ino, and Inuzuka Kiba with Hatake Kakashi as your sensei. Team Eight: Hyuuga Hinata, Haruno Sakura, and Akimichi Chouji with Yuuhi Kurenai as your sensei. Team Ten: Aburame Shina, Nara Shikamaru, and Uzumaki Naruto with Sarutobi Asuma as your sensei."

All the clan children were wide-eyed with shock.

"I assumed it would be like this," Shikamaru said after a moment.

"I... Thought the logical thing would be to acquiesce to the previous generations' lineup," Shina said blankly.

"Logical or not, we got one of the Guardian Shinobi!" Naruto _squealed_ quietly. "I heard that he knows tons of awesome jutsu!"

"I believe he is a popular ninja." Shina sighed. "Only time will tell. My father told me nothing."

The door opened. Instantly, Shikamaru sat up straight.

"That's _him!"_ he hissed to Shina and Naruto.

"I know," Naruto whispered. "I met him when I was younger - he was arguing with Jiji."

"I have never met him," Shina admitted.

"Aburame Shina, Nara Shikamaru, and Uzumaki Naruto, please follow me," he said, his face blank.

The three students stood up and followed.

~:~

"Tell me about yourselves."

They were at Yakiniku Barbecue, a place owned by the Akimichi.

Naruto squinted.

"I'm part of the Uzumaki clan," she decided on saying.

Shikamaru answered next. "I'm starting on advanced training with my clan."

Shina sighed minutely.

"I have been preparing for the more poisonous bugs of my clan to be given to me," she said flatly. "As clan heiress, it is imperative I bond with them."

"Interesting," Asuma said with a smile. "We're not going to have a bonding exercise. From what I hear, you three work together quite well. Tomorrow, we'll jump into D-Ranks, collect the required twenty, and get a few C-Rank missions down."

"What about training?" Naruto jumped in.

"Training is best done while in the middle of danger," Asuma said. "But maybe after our first C-Rank we can check your chakra natures."

With that questionable statement, the three genin finished their meals and left.

~:~

Their first C-Rank turned out to be what Shina needed. In fact, as soon as she was outside of the oppressive nature of the village she did the one thing she probably shouldn't.

She took her sunglasses off and squinted in the sunlight.

"Shina!" Naruto was alarmed. "What are you doing?"

"I have already taken measures. Why? So that I can relax a little." Shina kept her monotone and her jacket on. "I will wait an appropriate amount of time to take my jacket off."

Shikamaru sighed. "What a pain."

"Know that I have already put bugs on each of you in order to keep you alive and know where you are at all times," she added to their drunk client's confusion. "Do not think to feel for it. My bugs acclimate and reproduce within an hour."

"That's kind of gross," Shikamaru said. "What do you do when we bathe?"

Shina's blank eyes put a certain set of Uchiha eyes to shame.

"You do not wish to know."

Shikamaru made a face.

Naruto smirked. "You're smiling."

They looked at Shina. They could not tell if she was really smiling or not, because her jacket was in the way.

There was a crinkle next to her eyes.

Shikamaru chuckled. "She is."

"I'm glad you're coming out of your shell," Asuma said with a smile.

Shina glanced at him, saying nothing.

They thought she smiled wider, though.

~:~

Zabuza watched the group from the hidden trees. He expected... More. Well, kind of.

A weird girl wearing a large jacket and sunglasses, a kid in a bright orange jumpsuit that clashed with her bright yellow hair, one of the Guardian shinobi, and a lazy-looking kid all guarded the bridge builder.

"Why do you think we were attacked?" The blonde's voice was hushed; the eerie mists near hear gave them reason to be uneasy.

"The bridge builder must not have told us everything," the brunette said in a quiet monotone. "If he had, we would be in less danger."

"I'm sure sensei would take care of us," the third child grumbled. "He was one of the Guardian Twelve."

Zabuza tensed.

The brunette stopped, causing her team to stop.

"I know you are here," the brunette called out. "My kikaichuu have found you."

 _An Aburame? Interesting._

Zabuza felt it useless to stay in hiding.

"Well, well." He grinned a sharp-toothed grin under his bandages. "I've never met an Aburame in battle." He ignored the other targets. "But I do know enough to know that these are clones."

Senbon flashed. The blonde and old man popped into smoke, the Nara into shadows, the guardian shinobi into smoke.

The Aburame was either confident in her abilities, or stupid.

"I would not be a good choice to face," the Aburame said, her tone monotonic. "Why? I am simply a genin."

"I have my doubts about that," Zabuza smirked. "Is it true that your bodies are simply hollow shells holding bugs?"

"No. That would mean I am not alive," the Aburame said flatly. "Therefore I would not be here. None of my family would be either. You cannot control kickaichuu with kikaichuu." She extended her hands rather dramatically. Black clouds of bugs exited her sleeves.

Zabuza grinned viciously.


	4. Chapter 4

Naruto's teammate stiffened. Naruto glanced at the real client, and questioned the clone made of kikaichuu.

"He has captured me," the clone said, sounding remarkably calm.

"Keep it together," Ordered Asuma. "You heard the orders."

"Without a link, I will dissolve shortly," the clone said flatly.

"We will rescue you," Naruto said firmly.

Asuma's smoke clone glanced at her appraisingly.

~:~

Shikamaru knew he was probably a target. But even as his fake group traveled, he couldn't help but be himself - he was a lazy genius.

The clones dispersed themselves when he met up with the other three; Shina nowhere to be found. Naruto and Asuma's faces were grim masks.

Shikamaru stopped himself from paling or swearing.

"This is bad," he settled on saying.

"Yep," Naruto nodded, her blue eyes cold. "We're going to save the village and our friend."

Shikamaru nodded.

Nobody noticed the shadows acting up, or the loud crackle of the leaping flames grow silent as Naruto moved.

Nobody, that is, but Asuma.

~:~

"If you wish for me to strip to be undignified it would be useless," the Aburame said as Zabuza shoved her in the room.

"Would it?" Zabuza asked with a smirk.

"Indeed it would. I see nothing wrong with a body," the Aburame said flatly. "My friend would say that you have an appealing figure."

"You don't think so?" Zabuza asked, genuinely curious all of a sudden.

"I think that thinking you are physically appealing has no use. You either are or are not. I do not think you are physically appealing with those pants on." The Aburame didn't move as she spoke, remaining standing. Her tone remained the same.

"Do all Aburame practice that monotone?" he questioned.

"I am heiress of the Aburame. It is my duty to appear as I am."

 _An heiress._

Haku entered, looking at the Aburame warily, mask still up.

"Take off your jacket," Zabuza ordered abruptly, knowing he wouldn't rest unless he knew if she hid weapons.

The Aburame hesitated, then did so.

The jacket hit the floor and showed a normal-enough looking ninja girl. Normal ninja pants, normal shirt...

Disappointing, really.

Haku sighed and removed his mask.

"Should we wait? Using the Aburame as bait will be quite simple."

"No, it won't be," Zabuza grunted, walking over to their hostage and removing the sunglasses and weapons pouches. Normal brown eyes stared at him blankly as he grabbed the kid's jacket.

"Sit," he ordered the Aburame, pointing to the crate.

The Aburame sat.

Zabuza turned to Haku. "Ideas?"

"I would hate to have to kill her," Haku said immediately. "Rough her up a bit, send her on her way."

"It would be illogical to allow me to live," the Aburame said flatly. "Keeping me alive would only guarantee retaliation from Konoha forces."

"If she annoys me, then her corpse will be all that's left for them to find," Zabuza snapped, holding onto his Kubikiriboucho tightly.

~:~

Naruto and Shikamaru padded softly to the window, already having come up with a plan.

Slipping down the vines that made a ladder, the two genin started to walk over to the other side of Nami, only to be stopped by their sensei's sigh.

"You two are really going to go after Shina when she could be easily killed?"

The two genin stopped.

"Hostages are used in anything, especially if they're the heiress to a clan. I can almost bet you that Shina knows how to handle such incidents." Asuma stood in front of them. "Your interference could mean Shina's death."

Both of them flinched.

"But by all means, go ahead and try to rescue her."

Shikamaru and Naruto exchanged glances.

They really did want to rescue her, but if it meant her death...

Neither wanted Shina dead.

~:~

Asuma nodded at Kakashi and his brats, all of whom stared at him curiously. His two genin stood behind him, looking at him warily.

"Nice to see you're here," Asuma said after a long moment. "Even if you're three hours late."

"He was six hours late to our first meeting," Ino said sourly. "I wish I'd been on your team," she added to Shika.

"No, you don't," Shikamaru said tightly. "Sensei -"

Asuma nodded even as Kakashi's grey eye widened in horrified shock.

"Where's the Aburame?"

The three clan heirs on Kakashi's team all looked for Shina, but frowned when they didn't see her.

"We went along with Shikamaru's plan to use clones as a decoy," Asuma began, "and my plan to use Shina along the main route. Shina was taken by the opponent. This was after we called for help."

Shikamaru nodded. "Since she's a clan heiress, she's going to be important enough to at least use as a hostage, whoever our opponent is."

"As interesting as that is, should I go retrieve the heiress?"

"No," Naruto snapped, startling Kakashi and his team and Asuma, who turned to see that Naruto was _livid._ "You could get her _killed._ Jounin or not, the guy's got to be good if Shina got captured - or she's biding her time."

"Biding her time," Shina's voice echoed, causing them all to flinch. They turned to look, and a Shina clone was standing there. "She says the ninja holding her is Momochi Zabuza and a Yuki nin."

"Are you safe?" Shikamaru demanded, followed up by a worried question from Naruto.

"Are you alive?!"

"If she were safe, she would be here, and if she were dead, she would not be sending us for you." Asuma realized it was a kikaichu clone, and she was using a steady stream of bugs to keep herself connected. Interesting. "She says that she will be taken out in approximately two weeks; she is gathering information through her kikaichu about all of Gatou's illegal activities." Shina's bugs scattered.

"Well, that was useless," Sasuke said, looking annoyed. "Just like her."

Naruto lunged at him, her eyes bleeding red.

Asuma tugged her back.

"I wouldn't piss her off," Asuma said lightly.

Kiba snorted. "Like she could do anything. Your team is the biggest team of wimps everywhere."

Asuma released the angry jinchuuriki.

"Sic 'em," he said to Shikamaru, who glared at Ino and Sasuke.

Naruto proceeded to beat Kiba black and blue while shadows did that to Ino and Sasuke.


	5. Chapter 5

"They're vicious little beasts," Kakashi said with a grin at the unconscious forms of his students. "Thinking about entering them into the Chuunin Exams?"

Asuma sighed. "Don't have much of a choice," he said, hating that. "But we have a plan already."

Kakashi's eye was approving.

"What about your team?"

"They suck," Kakashi said bluntly. "About a week ago Ino was chewed out by her father for acting like a lovesick puppy, and Kiba's mother is forcing Sasuke to stay at Kiba's compound. Ino was basically tossed out of her clan until she stops acting like she was."

Asuma winced. "Damn. Clans can be cruel."

"They can be," Kakashi nodded. "You've heard of Shina's cousin, right?" Asuma frowned.

"I got back like a year ago," the Sarutobi replied. "Not sure."

"Oh. Well..." Kakashi sighed. "Danzou snatched up the kid's cousin about three or four years ago; I happened to be at the meeting. Man, you should have seen the Hokage." Kakashi blanched at the memory, and Asuma frowned into his drink.

"Is the cousin still -?"

"Well, Hokage-sama can't do much about it," Kakashi confessed. "Danzou acts how he wishes, and Hokage-sama only allows him to hang by a tendril."

Asuma grimaced.

"That's brutal," he said. A thought occured to him. "Will Danzou try to take -?"

"I don't know. Nobody does." Kakashi's eyes went to Asuma's working blonde student. "I do know Danzou's trying to get Sasuke hooked, and possibly your blonde student."

Asuma gave him a _look._

Kakashi avoided it.

"It's still possible he might go after Shina. Tell your students; I told Sasuke of the horrible things Danzou has done, but not the whole story." Kakashi scowled. "The little idiot thinks he can get the Sharingan from training."

"It would be better if he didn't awaken it at all," Asuma commented. "It's a well-known fact that the Sharingan is not good on the mind."

Kakashi gave him an insulted look.

"Not that _he_ was unstable, or that you are."

"I knew I was already," Kakashi said cheerfully. "But the time Sasuke was born, though, the clan itself was trying to grab my eye at every convenient moment." He shrugged.

Asuma snorted. "They really hated your guts."

"Still do," countered Kakashi, glancing at Sasuke again. "He found out when he barged into my home when he found some of his clan's official papers. The Hokage must have gotten plenty of headaches from having my Sharingan be a problem for the Uchiha clan."

Asuma let out a huff of amusement.

~:~

Naruto slid into the building.

Okay, so she'd disobeyed her sensei. For good reason.

She tiptoed to Shina's sitting form. Shina's brown eyes met hers calmly.

Naruto didn't speak, instead using her awesome shape-shifting abilities to turn into a pebble and land in Shina's lap.

A bug of Shina's appeared, scooping her up and depositing her on Shina's shirt.

Naruto settled in to wait.

~:~

Shina watched as the bug took the pebble back outside, then came back to her and showed her Naruto running away silently.

Two long weeks of gathering intel had led to this.

"Aburame."

She turned her head.

"Dress. It's chilly."

She stood, ignoring her dizziness, and put her jacket on. Haku gave her back her goggles, and Shina took a deep, unnecessary breath.

Haku put on his mask, then grasped Shina's arm, using a _shunshin._

The cold immediately got into her senses, her kikaichuu buzzing angrily that they were suddenly deposited in such a chilly atmosphere.

They settled by Shina's silent command; she stood there with three senbon pointed at her throat next to Zabuza.

Unknown to either of them, her bugs were slowly devouring their chakra to give to Shina.

"Momochi Zabuza, demon of Kiri," Hatake Kakashi's voice came from the mist. "Interesting meeting point."

The bridge cleared a bit. Shina wet her lips in anticipation. Shikamaru's shadow connected to hers, and with a flash of Naruto's red eyes the three were in Naruto's mind.

This was not the first time the three had been pulled in, first by the Kyuubi and subsequently by Naruto ever since. It was their small way of communicating with each other. Asuma-sensei had been alerted of their unique communicative abilities when they'd been doing C-Ranks and found out that they were actually just _clones_ doing C-Ranks while the three trained with each other in Naruto's mind.

The Kyuubi chaperoned their interactions and created lists of jutsu he knew (which, as he'd lived in hosts before, was quite a lot) and made them train in their mind.

Using Shikamaru's shadow and connecting to Shina made it possible for Shika to enter with Shina in Naruto's mind already.

Shina didn't want to know how.

But in Naruto's mindscape, Shina felt safe.

"He is going to try to trade me for the bridge builder. I would advise against allowing the trade to go forth. Stall him as long as possible."

"Why?" Shika frowned.

"Gatou is using him. Explaining that to him is useless. Haku will not kill unless Zabuza orders him to, and Zabuza really desires to fight Asuma-sensei." Shikamaru nodded shortly.

"Let's get Asuma-sensei to fight, then." Naruto grinned, a grin coming upon the muzzle of the Kyuubi as whatever Naruto was planning entertained the giant beast, too.

Shina blinked, the world reasserting itself around her.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto's voice was loud. "Let Asuma-sensei fight him!"

Shina's grin was invisible as Asuma took out his trench knives, his wind-natured chakra sharpening the blades.

"Loud," Kiba snapped. "What are we supposed to do?"

Shina snapped.

Her kikaichuu swarmed Haku, who flinched just enough for Shina to stomp on Haku's foot and jump away.

Shina didn't get far before ice mirrors crystalized around her; Shina saw her reflection multiply.

"You know I am making them simply _stall_ your partner, correct?" Shina questioned, making the Yuki clan member pause for a fraction of a second.

"Why?" the Yuki boy asked.

"Because you took an Aburame captive. An Aburame who has chakra-less control of bugs." Shina paused for a moment. "I used my kikaichuu to spy on Gatou. He has no intent to pay you."

The mirrors melted.

"If you're lying, I will kill you," Haku said flatly. "Zabuza-sama, they're only stalling so that Gatou can come to the bridge."

Naruto looked disappointed. "Aw, Shina, you couldn't have waited another few minutes?"

"I would have been either unconscious or dead if we had waited another minute," Shina said flatly. "I would rather give up my wild card than wait until it is unnecessary."

"What do you mean?" Asuma asked, not looking perturbed by Shina's statement.

"Shina just wanted you to stall him," Shikamaru said with a snort. "Troublesome idea, really."

"Until when?" Zabuza demanded, not at all okay with this amount of talking.

"Until he came." Shina looked expectantly at the end of the bridge, where her kikaichuu had reported a massive influx of chakra. Really, the chakra was equal to a chuunin level.

The mist cleared, Shina's bugs moving slowly back to her and feeding her the chakra taken. Shina ignored the look she got from Naruto as her chakra signature turned from normal to on par with Naruto's. She turned to the group of non-ninja along with everyone else.

"I knew this would happen," Gatou gloated. "You weak, pathetic shinobi are nothing compared to my bandits."

Instead of being cowed, Shina moved to the side and turned her head.

"Is this why you brought the kid?" Sasuke asked, sounding confused as he turned to Naruto, who was grinning the widest grin she possibly could.

If Shina were not an Aburame, she would laugh at his predicament.

"Shina guessed. I'm just the muscle," the Uzumaki grinned.

Shikamaru snorted. "If your the muscle, who's the backup?"

"Shut up," Zabuza barked, moving to the side as Inari walked through.

His nervousness was visible, but he pointed at Gatou.

"You had Kaiba killed!"

"Ah, the pathetic little boy. I sent my goons to your mother's. Little orphan Inari!"

Naruto's snarl was heard with the sound of a beam splitting.

"Luckily for you, I was there to save the day," she rasped, her eyes full-on crimson.

The townspeople moved through, pissed eyes glaring at Gatou.

"Mob mentality is a great factor in such things like another mob," Shina said with an unnoticeable smirk.

"You're devious," Haku said, impressed as the bloodthirstiness of the crowd rose higher. "With one simple statement, you've doomed Gatou."

"Gatou doomed himself," Shina said flatly. "I simply saw the heinous acts he has done and decided to take it upon myself to help along the final blow."

Justice for Gatou was going to be painful.


	6. Chapter 6

"It seems my team wasn't needed," Kakashi said with an eyesmile. Naruto regarded him with hostile eyes, holding Shina close to her.

"Just _go,"_ Naruto snapped. "We don't need you here."

Kakashi blinked. Was he imagining the underlying words? _I don't need you here._

Shina's expression remained hidden.

"We might as well walk together," Shika said with a scowl. "Man, that was a lame fight, though. We barely got to fight."

"Bummer," Naruto said in a rude tone. "I'm not walking with _that_ team."

"Then walk with yours," Shina said, her voice patient. How an Aburame could be so patient was beyond Kakashi.

"Wait!"

Naruto's face lit up as Haku called to her.

"Yes?" Shina inquired.

"As a formidable sword-wielder, Konoha has a place for Zabuza, correct? And... I'm the last of my clan, the Yuki clan. Please allow us to journey with you!" Haku bowed at the group.

Shina looked at Naruto.

"It is your call."

Naruto bit her lip.

"Under Konoha Law 123, subsection D, a clan can take another person under their wing, assuming all responsibility for their actions until two years have passed. I, Uzumaki Naruto, of the Uzumaki Clan, assume responsibility for you, Yuki Haku of the Yuki clan." Naruto was pale.

"You do realize that this means you've taken responsibility for a nuke-nin, right?" Ino demanded.

"I took responsibility for Naruto," Shina said, stunning everyone. "My father agreed. I assume this means you shall take Zabuza under your wing?"

Haku nodded emphatically.

"Then please get him to stop killing my kikaichuu. It is very annoying."

Haku nodded.

~:~

"Shina, Naruto. You know that means their behavior will reflect on yours, correct?" the Sandaime questioned seriously.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Shina said in her blank tone, her father right behind her. "I am prepared to accept the consequences."

"I am, too," Naruto said, keeping her blue eyes down.

"I see." The Hokage paused. "I wish to speak to Shina and Naruto alone."

Shibi walked out.

Naruto glanced at Shina, then flicked her eyes almost imperceptibly to the corner. Shina inched her head down in a slow nod.

"Hokage-sama, there are usually only four ANBU in here, correct?" Naruto asked, looking up at the Hokage, who stared at her in surprise.

"Indeed." He sounded wary.

"Then why is there a fifth signature?" The Hokage scowled at the corner where the fifth signature was, and Naruto relaxed when it was gone. "Apologies, Hokage-sama."

"What is this I hear from Kakashi about your eyes turning red?"

Naruto stiffened. "The Kyuubi and I have reached an agreement, Hokage-sama."

Shino didn't move, not even as the Hokage sighed and stood.

"You know that the Kyuubi cannot be trusted."

"I... Believe that the Kyuubi and I exist to keep each other alive, Hokage-sama." Naruto kept her eyes down, hunching inward a little.

Shina's lessons on faking emotion paid off after all.

The Hokage nodded, taking her submissive posture as an agreement. His focus turned to Shina.

"Shina-chan. How goes your studies?"

"Father considers me a mediocre student in the ways of the clan, Hokage-sama. He has expressed his disappointment with me on multiple occasions." Shina knew how to make inflections in an expressionless voice, making her sound despondent without actually _sounding_ despondent.

"I see," the Hokage said, sounding disappointed. "I look forward to your advancement under Asuma. Both of you are dismissed."

Both bowed and left.

~:~

"We're going to have visitors," the Kazekage said crisply to his Academy students. "A team of Konoha genin are coming to Suna. You and your team are to watch them, show them around." His gaze turned to Gaara. " _No killing them._ They're here with a shipment from Konoha."

A shipment of desperately needed supplies.

"Are they here, or coming now?" Baki questioned. "Sending a team of Konoha genin is a blatant show of force."

"Or it's just a random accident. Bandits have been more bold lately." Rasa turned away, thinking hard. He'd been certain he was going to die before he revealed that Konoha ninja were coming, and his so-called ally had almost killed him. Baki was the only one who knew, and the leader of the Konoha genin.

Hopefully, Sarutobi Asuma's presence would make Orochimaru back off, even a little bit.

~:~

"Have _you_ ever been to another ninja village, Shina? Shika?" Naruto was _excited,_ as was shown by her _skipping_ down the road next to the caravan of goods.

"I have," Shika nodded. "Father took Mother and I to Kumogakure. Negotiations didn't go well."

"I have not," Shina admitted. "However, I have been to the Village of Colors, the artisan village. It does not have a ninja force."

"That's not true," Shika said, making Shina pause. "Well... No, it is true. Doesn't your mother come from Nadeshiko Village?"

Shina nodded. "Yes. But I have never been there."

"Nadeshiko Village?" Naruto frowned, ignoring the heat of the sun. Everyone else was covered head to toe, but Naruto's skin couldn't get a sunburn.

It was pretty impossible, as the Kyuubi's chakra healed any skin damage.

"Nadeshiko Village is made of women," Shina explained. "My father must have dueled her for her hand. My mother is not a native of Konoha; none of my clan objects to this because most of the family is not Konoha-native."

Shika leaned forward. "They hate the kikaichuu."

Naruto nodded. "Ah~ I see."

"What about your parents?" Asuma asked, curious. "Where did your parents come from? Mine were Konoha, born and bred." He grimaced a little.

"I think my father was Konoha born and bred," Naruto frowned. "My mother, not so much."

Asuma nodded, and a merchant from the caravan coughed.

"We approach the gates to Suna!"

Imposing walls appeared in their vision.

"Sugoi!" Naruto breathed, staring at the wall with admiration.

"It is just a rock wall," Shina pointed out. "Not a work of permanent art."

"I know! But it's my first glimpse of a shinobi village that isn't Konoha!" Naruto _squealed._ "I can't wait to enter it!"

"You might want to reign in your chakra," Shina said quietly.

Naruto paused. "I can't. Not when I'm this excited. Can you -?"

Shina sighed minutely and sent her bugs, feeding off of her chakra.

There was an immediate difference.


	7. Chapter 7

Konoha genin or not, they were _strange._ Baki had to take the jounin leader of the team to meet their dad, and they were left alone.

The blonde hesitated before bouncing in front of Gaara.

"Hi! I'm Naruto! I've never been outside Konoha before!"

Gaara glared at her.

"Have you been to Konoha before? I kinda miss it. So many _trees,_ you know? Not this irritating heat. How do you stand so many layers?"

"Naruto, I would advise you to get away from him before he decides to brutally murder you," a cool, blank female voice said, coming from the jacketed girl.

Kankuro paled. How did she -

"Because Shika and I have been on the verge of murdering you ourselves, and I do not want to be the last one in line to chop off your head."

The third genin sighed. "So _troublesome._ Your jokes need more work, Shina. But she's right."

"Oh, it's okay! He'll murder me before you do, so even if it's painful it won't be as painful as what you'd do, Shina!" Naruto giggled. "You would have your kikaichuu devour my flesh!"

"I do not have fire ants, Naruto. I would have to drag you back to Konoha and give you to my uncle Shiki. He has flesh-eating bugs." A pause. "Perhaps that is why he has fewer organs now."

Naruto laughed. "Shina, I've _met_ Shiki-san! He's so nice!"

"And he shall die in the next few years."

Naruto scowled at her. "Okay, now you're being stupid. So, what's your name?" Kankuro swallowed as Gaara stared at her.

"...Gaara."

"Great! I'm Naruto, wanna be friends?"

Kankurou sighed.

"This is going to be troublesome," the dark-haired boy said.

"Anything involving her is troublesome," the brunette girl said. "However, it turns out to be worth it."

"Is your friend's death worth it?" mumbled Kankurou, only to get a glare from Gaara and a laugh from Naruto.

"Don't worry, Clown-san! I'm not gonna die before I get the hat!"

"Naruto, you are an idiot. I did not hear what he said," Shina said.

"Sorry! It's hard not hearing with these ears, right, Gaara? I mean, us jinchuuriki _really_ have a hard time. Enhanced senses all the time!" the blonde bemoaned.

Kankurou paled even more.

"You're a jinchuuriki?"

"Yes," Shina said flatly. "She is. And my best friend."

"Our," Shika added, stepping closer to her and glaring daggers at Kankurou.

"Yes, _our._ Whatever."

"Okay!" Kankurou pasted a fake smile on his face. "Look, let's get to your room." He paused. "Well, unless, of course, you prefer sleeping outside."

"No, thank you for the offer," the jacketed girl said in her grating monotone.

Kankurou and Gaara showed them to the room, Naruto hugging Gaara with a smile.

(Why Gaara's sand didn't kill her, he had no clue.)

Their oldest sister, Temari, appeared.

"Hello," Temari said, her voice rough as usual. "There's a limit on how much water can be afforded the guests; our apologies on that."

"It's fine, thanks!" Naruto beamed, smiling up at the other blonde. "I love how you did your hair. It's nice!"

"Thank you," Temari said, looking taken aback. "Your sensei should be around later this evening. We are to entertain you."

"That shall not be necessary. We packed books."

Naruto grimaced as she brought out hers; each of the books were really thick and had no name or embossed symbol on the cover.

But then Naruto opened the book and looked annoyed. "Sensei wants us to read up on the _extended_ history of Konoha's clans. So _boring."_

"Yes, well. We shall retire to do such," Shina said formally. "Our thanks to the master of this house."

So she was definitely part of a clan.

"Why do you have to be so damn formal all the time?"

They entered the room, Shina shutting the door.

"What a weird trio."

~:~

Asuma swirled his drink, being careful not to drink any of it.

The door opened, and the Kazekage stood there.

"My apologies for wasting your time. I did not anticipate Orochimaru being there for so long."

Asuma froze, tensing. Baki tensed, too, but the Kazekage waved his hand as he sat down.

"I asked you here to ask you to help stop Orochimaru. And to save my own skin, of course, but of course that's neither here nor there. I have asked the Hokage to relocate the Chuunin Exams to Suna."

Asuma nearly scoffed. He held his tongue, knowing the danger he was in. His genin were in danger.

"I must admit I'm holding you and your team hostage until Sarutobi says yes," the Kazekage said, his face grim. "I sincerely apologize." Asuma smiled, pretending he was amiable.

"I could kill half your forces without breaking a sweat."

"But would you surrender Konoha's bright young genin to me?"

Asuma froze. _No._

Naruto, the bright future for the Uzumaki clan.

Shikamaru, the next head of the Nara clan.

And Shina, the perpetually annoyed Aburame who held more than a few tricks up her literal sleeve.

"Perhaps not," Asuma said after a moment. "However, if we will be stuck here for a few months, I will need clothes for my genin and myself, as well as money to buy food."

The Kazekage smirked. "I knew you would see it my way. I will allow you to train and work here in the village, but you and your team must wear the Suna headband. You may wear your sash, but you will have to put a _genjutsu_ over it."

Asuma sighed, nearly tuning him out.

~:~

The three genin looked up as Asuma entered the room, looking annoyed and upset.

"So?" Naruto asked, her voice eager.

"We're being held hostage," Asuma said flatly. "By the Kazekage. We're allowed to train and do menial tasks around the village, supervised by Baki - the jounin who met us at the gate - and his team. Also, we have to wear Suna headbands because Orochimaru is in the village, and Suna clothes."

The answering silence made Asuma wince.

"Oh," he added. "You three have to graduate from the Suna Academy first."

Naruto scowled. "And what do we have to do in order to graduate?!"

~:~

"Nice job!" the teacher said to the oddly still girl in front of her. "Here's your headband!"

Yuuhi Shina bowed stiffly, grabbed the headband, and walked out.

Yuuhi Naruto was next, bouncing in and cutting a leaf in half successfully and only missing two kunai hits out of ten, as well as using the chameleon jutsu so famed with earth-natured nin. She grabbed her headband when the teacher held it out and bounced out.

And finally, Yuuhi Shika passed with flying colors.

(The poor teacher didn't realize she'd been placed under a subtle _genjutsu_ after meeting their sensei-to-be, Asuma.)

"What an odd trio," the teacher said dreamily.

~:~

Shina's task was to stop the scorpions from poisoning the water system.

Luckily for her, she did that almost effortlessly.

(Okay, so she understood bugs like the Inuzuka understood their ninken. Most of her clan did.)

Naruto's task was to help out at the orphanage.

Shika's task was to clean the weapons in the armory.

All of these tasks were done at night, so as to not interfere with their day training; which, thanks to Gaara, was going quite well.

Since Gaara trained at this field, nobody, not even his brothers, came here.

It was on the fourth day that they arrived there, Naruto having complained about a disturbing lack of privacy for Shina to train without her jacket on.

Gaara liked her enough to tell her his training ground.

And Naruto supplied them with basic Earth ninjutsu; despite the fact the young girl was actually primarily a Kaze (wind)-inclined shinobi, she'd confessed to being able to use the five elements to a lesser degree thanks to the Kyuubi's demonic-ness.

Shina's bugs stole chakra from all sorts of sources, so while she _did_ need to extend her reserves, she could also perform an impressive amount of jutsu - and she could give Shikamaru aid by stealing some of Naruto's chakra and giving it to Shikamaru.

She would only do that until _his_ reserves grew, too.

When she cast her first Kage bunshin, Shina passed out right after making it.

It got easier after that.

"Koujin Bunshin no Jutsu (Dust Clone technique)!" Shina panted, summoning another dust clone in addition to her standing shadow clone and earth clone. Shikamaru formed a Kage bunshin and an earth clone, but Shina bent down, placing dirt on her arms.

"Okay, Shina, you're at your limit for today," Asuma said, worry evident.

"No," Shina disagreed. _My father would never approve of me doing this, even if it is for the sake of our clan._

"Doton: Ishi Yoroi no Ude (Earth Release: Stone Bracers)!"

Dirt hardened.

Naruto, despite her worry, launched herself at Shina with a kick.

Shina's clones moved, her dust clone poofing. Naruto, expecting Shina's earth clone, swung down on her shadow clone with a punishing kick.

Shina's shadow clone poofed, but Naruto was on a roll, giving her earth clone a single glancing blow.

Shina tried one more move.

"Doton: Doroku Gaeshi!"

A rock lifted out of the ground, shielding her.

Naruto broke through it with three punches, then got lifted up and thrown by Shina's earth clone.

Surprised, Naruto collided with Shikamaru, who locked her in with one of his shadows.

Naruto struggled.

Asuma looked at the timer.

Three minutes...

They were aiming to last five minutes against Naruto.

Naruto's eyes narrowed, and she snapped the shadow binding. She jumped up, twisting in midair -

Shina dodged, tripping. Her sunglasses fell off, and Naruto was coming fast. She shoved her earth bracers in front of her.

They crumbled, but Shina's bad habit of using Naruto's chakra came in handy.

A flash of red later and Naruto was laying on the ground, looking stunned.

Shina blinked as Naruto sat up.

"Five minutes," Asuma-sensei said.

Naruto scowled and leaped at Shina.

Shina blacked out.


	8. Chapter 8

**There are several reasons I pretty much skipped the chuunin exams and the aftermath of it.**

 **Most of which will be revealed later on.**

~:~

Asuma frowned as Shina nursed her black eye, Naruto looking a little annoyed, and Shikamaru looking like he was done.

"Did the Kyuubi's chakra just flare up in a non-jinchuuriki?" he finally asked.

Naruto flinched. "Maybe because Shina takes my chakra sometimes? Well, I suppose it would manifest in Shikamaru, too, if he ever got too tired..." Naruto kept thinking. "Kyuu says that since he allowed a link to be formed with Shina and Shikamaru, in case he... What the _fuck is wrong with you?!"_ She burst out, looking anguished. Then her eyes turned a far more deadly red, and everyone in the room straightened (aside from Shina). The Kyuubi grinned at Asuma and Shika, then turned to Shina.

 **"You already assumed what had possibly occurred, did you not? Smartest human I've ever met. You've smartened up my idiot here."**

Shina regarded him dully.

"If you mean I assumed that you formed a link through your chakra with my bugs with Shikamaru and I, then you would be correct. Would I be remiss in assuming you have continued to monitor us to make certain that we are not faking our friendship with Naruto?"

 **"You would not,"** the demon snorted. **"You two share me, in a way, with Naruto. Know this, though. Naruto is my priority."**

Shina dipped her head. "I assumed as much. I do question this, though, if I may: Will you appear in our mindscapes?"

The Kyuubi frowned. **"You know, I'm not actually sure..."**

Asuma laughed a little, mostly in incredulity.

His blonde student's eyes turned blue, and she swayed a little.

"Sorry about that, Sensei. Whenever he takes over like that, I barely get warning."

Asuma waved his hand - and froze as a thought occured to him.

"So... The Kyuubi could have taken over and destroyed Konoha at any time."

Naruto laughed, rubbing the back of her neck. "No, Sensei. He was locked up. I unlocked his cage. He knows that if there's even a _single_ inkling that he's planning on destroying Konoha that I'll lock him back up... Even if I hate it." She scowled a little, looking very depressed for a moment.

~:~

The Kazekage was relieved. The Suna Chuunin Exams were well underway - and the trials were laughably easy. Team vs team challenge, a small (large) death trap of a cave, and a final two vs two challenge.

Both adult Sarutobi stood in the Kage box, both of them staying awkwardly silent.

"So," the Kazekage said, to make conversation. "I noticed there was an Uzumaki in the roster." One of Asuma's students - not that Rasa particularly cared; he'd never met the brats, anyway.

"Our prominent clan children are all in the roster," Hiruzen said stiffly.

Rasa would have made much better conversation with the Yondaime.

 _Hello, Minato. I heard there was an Uzumaki in the roster._

 _Oh, yes! Pride and joy of the village, Rasa!_ The Yondaime would smile his stupid bubbly smile and change the subject.

Sadly, the idiot had had to _die_ against a _bijuu._

Rasa rolled his eyes.

"Forgive me for being annoyed."

"Please shut up," the younger Sarutobi said politely.

"Asuma. You do not talk to him like that," Hiruzen said, his eyes never moving off the battle below.

Asuma's face flashed with displeasure before he sighed.

"Orochimaru bids you good evening," Rasa said, turning his head. "I had to invite him, as leader of Oto."

Hiruzen clutched his armrests briefly.

"I see." Hiruzen turned to Asuma. "Is why you became a traitor?"

Rasa stood abruptly, ignoring the tensing of the Hokage's ANBU guards.

"Sarutobi, you're an idiot and a fool if you think your son has been a traitor," Rasa snapped. "I sent for Sarutobi-san as soon as I knew Orochimaru wanted to _kill me_ and forced them into the roles of Suna shinobi. None of your shinobi have crossed from the paths of Konoha shinobi. In fact, in the reports my oldest has given me, that Uzumaki in the roster has complained about almost _every single thing in Suna."_

"What _didn't_ she complain about?" Asuma muttered, knowing he was lying.

Rasa scowled fakely. "The cookies."

Asuma nodded. "She _loves_ Suna cookies. How much sugar do you put in them?"

Wow... Just... Wow. Asuma must _love_ pissing his father off.

~:~

Naruto snickered as Shina relayed the information in her usual way of what was happening in the Kage box.

Kankurou frowned.

"Okay, _how_ do you know this? First the scorpions, now this - do you talk to animals as well?"

The other Konoha genin (a pitiful bunch, really) all looked at Shina, who had stopped narrating what was happening.

"No, that is Kiba-san's job."

"Oi, I can only talk to dogs!"

"Are you certain?" Shina asked, seeming to peer at him. "Your animal nature would lead me to assume that you can talk to them."

"Why you!" Kiba leaped over to punch her, but a rather large swarm of bugs appeared in Shina's defense, shoving Kiba back.

"No," Shina said, turning to Kankurou. "I speak to only bugs and arachnids."

"That's... Really gross," Kankurou shuddered. Shina nodded.

"To you it is."

"It's not that creepy," Naruto said, leaping to Shina's defense. "They're her precious insects. Wait, aren't scorpions arachnids?" She turned to Shina, who nodded.

"Indeed. Did you not know that my clan can... Communicate with scorpions? To be precise, my clan can communicate with the entire species of arachnids." Shina turned. "Oh, Asuma-sensei is angering Hokage-sama. Oh, and we were just accused of treason."

Naruto snorted. "Let them _try_ and accuse us."

~:~

In the end, the Hokage died. It was a very real punch to Naruto and Shina - Naruto, because despite everything, the Hokage was like a grandfather to her, and Shina because the Hokage was the only thing standing in the way of Danzou.

She was scared. Seriously scared. She felt terrible for this reason; the leader of their village had just _died,_ and she was thinking about herself.

It was her fear that pursued her to go to Asuma-sensei before they got to the village.

"Sensei..." Her voice was fragile, catching Asuma's attention. Naruto looked up from her place next to him, and Shika looking up from his fake sleep. "Sensei, I am sorry for asking this so soon, but -" She bit her lip. "I beg for your clan's protection, Sensei, from Shimura Danzou." She could _feel_ the shock from Asuma-sensei. "I did not plan on telling you this, but as long as I was able to fake my learning enough to where ninja around me that I did not know thought I was a poor substitute compared to Torune, Danzou left me alone because I did have Hokage-sama's protection. I know he was your father, and that I am being selfish, but I -"

She was silenced by a sigh.

"Shina, don't worry about it. You're under Sarutobi protection," Asuma said easily. "Now come here. You all need a hug."

Naruto instantly burrowed into the hug offered. Shina hesitantly entered it.

Shikamaru sighed and entered the hug.


	9. Chapter 9

"...I know I agreed to this," Shina said slowly, following along behind the Sannin and Naruto. "But why must I join you?"

"To protect me," Naruto smirked. "From going full-on jinchuuriki! That, and I really didn't want to be alone with a freakin' pervert."

The toad sannin gave her a wounded look.

"I can teach you both flashy jutsu!" he promised. "Since I bet you're wind natured, I can teach you something only the Yondaime and I knew! And I can teach you..." He paused as he looked at Shina. "Well."

"My father does not approve of me learning jutsus," Shina said flatly. "It is not something that an Aburame should do."

"Yeah, your clan is kinda boring."

"You know, I added three Suna scorpions to my collection of creatures that live in my cloak. Do you want a closer look, Ero-sennin?" Shina asked, her voice dangerously flat.

Jiraiya paled and started to sweat.

"No," he swallowed. Then he paused. "Wait. Suna scorpions? Where do they live?"

Shina sighed.

"Doton: Ishi Yoroi no Ude!"

She stunned the Sannin enough to bring one of her Suna scorpions out.

"Any more stupid questions?"

~:~

Itachi knocked on the door where the Uzumaki was currently staying. He waited, then heard a hard footfall.

The door opened to a brunette girl with a high ponytail looking at him with an annoyed look that turned to an astonished look when her eyes moved to Kisame.

"Kaa-san, your male escort arrived!"

"You moron, I didn't order a male escort!" A decidedly high voice said.

Definitely not the Uzumaki.

"Yeah, he's not a male escort," Kisame said, slipping closer to Itachi, who opened his mouth.

"Oh, handsome, I wasn't talking about tall, dark and pale here. I was talking about you. Kaa-san has eclectic taste; can't say I blame her. You are an excellent hunk of muscle."

Itachi hid a smirk.

So this is what Aburames were capable of, fooling even Kisame?

Well, not like Itachi and Kisame really intended to capture Naruto here.

"Cut it out," Itachi ordered. "Naruto, please come to the door. Aburame or not, your friend cannot fool me."

The Aburame's face went flat as the door opened.

"Oh, hey, Itachi."

The Aburame showed no surprise.

Naruto stood there. Itachi blinked at how she was showing off pretty much everything in regular, civilian clothes.

"Why are you wearing that?" Protective instincts came over Itachi, Kisame's presence be damned. "You could catch a cold!"

Naruto blinked. "Um. Okay. And because we didn't want to be recognized." She gave him a peeved glare. "Wanna come in?"

At least she had manners...

Both Akatsuki members entered as the Aburame zipped up her jacket and made her hair go down from its ponytail.

"Man, that's creepy. Emotions are a part of life. You and Itachi could be siblings." Kisame looked impressed with the younger girl's ability to seemingly turn off emotion.

"That is impossible," the girl said flatly. Itachi fought not to shiver; her blank voice told _nothing_. Revealed _nothing_. Even her eyes were blank. "Clans aside, he cannot control my kikaichuu even with his Sharingan."

"Cool!" Naruto grinned. "Shina, this is Itachi, my oldest friend... Sorta. This is his nuke-nin of a partner -"

"Hoshigaki Kisame, one of the former Seven Swordsman of Kirigakure no Sato." Shina placed her sunglasses on. "Left Kiri and the Seven Swordsmen shortly after being inducted; now works with the Akatsuki, partnered with Uchiha Itachi of Konoha's Uchiha clan. Uchiha Itachi slaughtered his kinsmen." She stared at him directly. "I do not know the full story."

Chills ran down Itachi's spine. _This_ was why he didn't interact with Aburame.

"Didn't you get kidnapped by a Seven Swordsman, brat?" Kisame asked, glaring at her.

"It was a purposeful move on my part," the Aburame replied calmly. "Aburame are rarely seen on the battlefield, and I took advantage of that. How did you know of this?"

Kisame snorted. "You'll be amazed at what information you get while tailing you."

Naruto frowned. "I suck at sensing. I couldn't sense them!"

" _I_ followed you," Itachi corrected. "If I hadn't then I would not have known that there was an Aburame here. I happened to overhear you telling the Sannin about Aburame-san getting held hostage." Naruto's expression cleared. She knew his talent with crows. Then a devious light came into her eyes.

"So, Kisame-san, how long have you and Itachi been fucking?"

Itachi felt his face burning faintly.

"Two -"

Itachi kicked him in the shin.

"We have no need to explain our habits of sleeping with one another," Itachi managed to choke out. "How long have you and Aburame-san been in a relationship?"

Naruto looked at Shina, who met her gaze, then turned her gaze to Itachi.

"What are you talking about? Naruto and I are not in a relationship."

Naruto turned back to Itachi, giving him an equally puzzled look.

Kisame burst into laughter. "Oh, dear. Itachi -"

He froze. Itachi already had; after all, one must be perfectly still so as to not get pierced by a blade.

"Ero-sennin," Naruto said, her irritation plain. "He was just _talking,_ it's _rude_ to interrupt someone when they're talking."

The kunai dropped.

"You're talking to two nuke-nin," Jiraiya of the Sannin said slowly.

"Yes, and they're not going to take us... Or attempt to, yet. Kyuubi says that the statue's important and won't be ready for another three years."

Itachi smiled - it was more the faintest quirk of the lips. His signature smile - the one only now four other people had seen.

The Aburame pointedly looked at Naruto, allowing him some privacy.

"We will say hello at a better time," Itachi offered at the awkward silence.

"Yeah, this is way too stifling for me." Kisame trudged out, being careful not to brush his sword on the Sannin.

Itachi left the room - only to be attacked by none other than his violent little brother.

"Die, Itachi!"

Itachi readied for it -

"Doton: Doroku Gaeshi."

A small rock shield appeared with the Aburame girl behind it, starting Itachi for a fraction of a second. As Sasuke broke through it, paying the Aburame no mind, the Aburame appeared behind Sasuke; Sasuke's Chidori pierced the clone, and it poofed into smoke. The girl twisted and slammed a foot in Sasuke's back, making him fall.

"And I had once thought that Asuma-sensei's lessons were rather boring," the Aburame said in her usual dead voice.

Yes, that's what it was - dead.

Itachi dimly recalled meeting the other clan heirs, Naruto being a rather special case. He thought back to the Aburame children, and remembered on that day it had been assumed the older one was the clan heir; it turned out to be a false assumption and Shina was revealed to be the tiny heiress.

Itachi had been engaged to both Hinata or Shina at a few points; with the massacre of his clan - and Izumi still creating a pang in his heart at the thought of her - Shina and Hinata were both free from being obligated to marry him.

He supposed one good thing came of it. Being able to watch Shina pummel his brother while acting as a befitting member of her clan.

"How could you defend a traitor?"

"My sincere apologies. I am half-blind today. Such a pity."

(How in the _hell_ did Shina manage to pull of sarcasm without tone?!)

"We should go," Itachi nodded at Naruto, who smiled and waved.

"Bye, nii-san!" she called. "Write me!"

Itachi shook his head, and the two Akatsuki members walked outside.

"So that's the little kid you're protecting." Kisame looked down at Itachi with a smirk. "She's adorable."

Itachi thought back to Naruto, that same little half-smile on his face.

"I don't want to die," he said, seemingly out of nowhere to those around him. Kisame froze. "Is it selfish to want that?"

Kisame relaxed a little. "Not that I'm discouraging you from suicide through fratricide - which I'm totally against, by the way - was it the Kyuubi jinchuuriki that brought this on?"

Itachi thought for a moment.

"No," he said at last. "Not entirely."

Kisame hummed, rubbing his shoulders soothingly.

"I don't care if it was. I prefer to keep you alive."


	10. Chapter 10

Shikamaru entered his house, aching and mentally groaning.

He stopped in the middle of the kitchen; Aburame Shira stood there, pale and in ninja gear. Since Shina wasn't a Konoha ninja, there was no real reason for her to be like that.

But she was sweating, and her face was red.

"- have even to stave off the poison. My sister in Nadeshiko Village might help; while this poison will inevitably kill me, I have to try to find their hideout."

His mother, Yoshino, was pale, but she nodded. "Alright. Do you want me to tell your husband?"

Shira frowned. "Yes. He'll figure it out. I should have enough time to reach Nadeshiko and find the hideout before Shina returns."

"You're going to die? Does Shina know?"

Shira and Yoshino turned to Shikamaru.

"Only Shina would be welcome in Nadeshiko Village... Hmm. Contact her, tell her to come to me." Shira took a deep breath. "Goodbye, Yoshino. It's been a pleasure."

Shira headed out.

Yoshino was pale, and closed her eyes. "She's been sent out to find Tsunade. Tell your sensei."

Shikamaru's aches and pains immediately vanished as he left; his sensei was with Kurenai-sensei, handing a bunch of flowers to her.

"Sorry, Kurenai-sensei, but we need to find Naruto and Shina, Asuma-sensei!"

Asuma opened his mouth, but then smiled. "How about it, Kakashi? Want to find your beloved author and future Godaime?"

"Sure." Shikamaru jumped as the Copy Nin snapped his book shut. "I'm ready, kid. You?"

"As much as I can be," Shikamaru answered coolly, his heart racing.

He had no clue how he'd tell Shina that she needed to get to Nadeshiko Village to her dying mother.

He had no idea how to tell Shina her mother was dying.

~:~

Tsunade looked at the three in front of her.

"What's the catch?" she asked Jiraiya suspiciously. Jiraiya told her. She laughed and denied their request.

The blonde brat glared at her furiously.

"Let's make a bet, lady. Name a jutsu my father used, and I'll duplicate it in a week."

Tsunade frowned, but got a clever idea. Whoever this brat's dad was couldn't have been the Yondaime. Tricking the girl would be easy.

"The _Rasengan,"_ she said haughtily. "If you can master that jutsu in a week and make me use more than a finger to beat you, I'll become your Hokage... And I'll sweeten the deal. I'll even give you my necklace." She tapped the crystal on her neck. She didn't wish death on the kid.

"Fine," the girl replied with a nasty smirk.

Tsunade turned and walked away.

"I am afraid I cannot let you go without saying something," the Aburame said, her voice blank. "You are not the only one in this world that has lost something. Nor will you be the last."

Tsunade whirled back around, her eyes narrowed - only for whatever she had been about to say die on her lips as the blonde brat threw her a nasty look as the Aburame walked away.

"Brats," Tsunade spat.

~:~

Shina watched with hidden amusement as Naruto attempted to kill Kabuto. Orochimaru noticed Naruto shove Kabuto back, giving him a Rasengan in the stomach and ripping up his insides.

Shina watched Orochimaru carefully; as soon as Orochimaru looked at Naruto, Shina appeared before him, a hand out with one of her special Suna scorpions on it.

Orochimaru stopped, confusion on his face.

"I love Suna scorpions." Shina carefully stroked her scorpion friend. "They listen. And when they bite, they do not kill with their poison. They slowly corrode the chakra network. No matter what, the poison remains with the victim; there is only one cure. Suna no Chiyo has it, of course, but you burned that bridge when you almost killed the Kazekage. So what will it be, Orochimaru? Death? Or will you leave?"

Orochimaru sneered. "You have no power over me -"

"By the time you move one limb, the scorpion will have bitten you on my command. So your options are limited to leaving or being bitten to death. Either option is unfavorable at this point in time, but unavoidable. So what will it be?"

She didn't bluff. One scorpion was on his shoulder, waiting, pinchers inches from the snake's neck. The snake froze.

"We'll leave," Kabuto said, his eyes flashing behind his glasses.

Naruto made a high-pitched noise of surprise.

"Nice hit, by the way," Kabuto said, offering the girl a smile, that, had he not been evil, might have been a congratulatory smile. "Orochimaru-sama, let's leave."

Shina recalled her scorpion, which made a very fast trip over Orochimaru's body and back into her palm, crawling up her sleeves.

As Orochimaru left with Kabuto - as soon as they performed a _shunshin,_ actually - Shina stiffened.

"Shina?" Naruto was confused.

"I must go to my mother's village. My father just sent notice."

"SHINA!"

Shina turned to see Shikamaru, panting. He gasped for air, while the silver-haired jounin looked fresh and clean. Shikamaru sported rips and tears in his clothes, too.

"What is the matter?"

"You mother visited my mother - told me to tell you to get to Nadeshiko Village."

Shina was confused.

"Why -? Never mind. Whatever my mother must need, it must be important." She turned to the Sannin standing there. "Please do not forget your promise to Naruto, Tsunade-sama. Ero-sennin -"

"CALL ME JIRAIYA-SAMA!"

"I shall do no such thing, you perverted sage," Shina deadpanned. "I was simply going to suggest you do not hurt or maim Naruto in any way. Otherwise... This scorpion will be the last thing you see." Shina turned to Kakashi-sensei. "Kakashi-sensei -"

"I'll take you to Nadeshiko Village," Kakashi interrupted. "It's the least I could do."

Shina frowned to herself.

"You hurt her and I'll let the Kyuubi rip you to shreds," Naruto said in her most cheerful voice.

Shina looked at her.

"You know I only said that because -"

"I know, Shina. I know you can protect yourself. But I'm sure Kakashi-sensei won't, and if he does it's me he'll have to answer to!" Naruto beamed at her. "It makes sense if you knew what I knew."

Shina inclined her head, allowing that.

"I shall return to Konoha after I - No, wait. I cannot be escorted by a male." Shina frowned.

"Shizune," Tsunade said, the black-haired woman jerking to attention. "Keep watch over the Aburame."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama!" Tsunade nodded at Shina, who nodded at her respectfully.

~:~

Nanade of Nadeshiko Village watched the two travelers. One was bundled in a long jacket and the other held a pig. Both were female.

Stopping at a respectful distance, the one in the long jacket dropped her hood to show her hitai-ate and her long hair.

"You may enter the village; who is it you seek?"

"My mother," the one with the jacket on said in a flat voice. "Aburame Shira."

"Oh." Nanade winced and jerked her head. "You may go in; Shira's in the hospital."

The Aburame walked in at a sedate, yet hurried pace. The pig-holding lady followed after her with a nervous smile.

~:~

Shina knocked on her mother's hospital room door.

The steady beeping of machines was unveiled, telling Shina that there had been multiple people talking in her mother's room.

She stepped in, her bugs buzzing in agitation as she saw her mother's face.

Black veins crawled up her face, her breathing labored.

"Mother?" she questioned, walking to the bed and ignoring the many people in the room who had come to pay their respects.

Shira's eyes opened as Shina got to her bedside.

"Hello, Shina." Her face was haggard, and Shina _knew._

Being sad about death - an inevitable thing - was something she'd often thought about as stupid. But now, as she stared at her mother's failing body, she wondered if it wasn't stupid.

Shina let her mother brush her hood aside and shove her sunglasses down.

"Mother..." Shina was worried.

"Shina..." Shira smiled at her, then coughed. "Shina, I know you must tell your father. Tell him..." Shira weakly pulls at her arm. "Tell him that they're real, to let you go into the KPF archives and -" Shira coughed. "To save the eggs." Shina had no clue what she was talking about.

"As you wish, Mother." She would tell her father what she said.

"The nest is protected by Iwagakure no Sato," she coughed. "The eggs won't hatch half human if an Aburame filled with venom is used for the transition." Shira's eyes skittered away, then focused on Shina's.

Shina heard the door open behind her, and her bugs settled a little.

"Mother, Naruto is here." Naruto drew up beside her friend. Shina could tell this was just a clone, but that was okay.

"Good." Shira sighed. "I'm glad you have friends, Shina... I'm glad you're not entirely like your father. Just do me a favor."

"Anything," Shina said, meaning it.

"Smile. And give it to me genuinely."

Shina smiled, closing her eyes and crying internally while smiling and meaning it.

"I love you, Mama."

Shira laughed. "I love you, too, Shina. Be good to my Shina, Uzumaki Naruto." Shira cupped her daughter's face.

Shina felt her mother's hand slipping, and intertwined it with her own, opening her eyes to look at her mother.

"Goodbye," Shina whispered as her mother's breathing stopped.

Naruto pulled Shina away gently as people filed into the room again.

Shina regained her senses soon after Naruto did that, swallowing and standing outside.

Shizune stood there, speaking to the female doctor. Upon seeing Shina and Naruto, Shizune swallowed.

"I'm afraid that the body must be burned," the doctor said to Shina softly. "The poison hasn't been taken out of her system yet, and it's likely that it would contaminate the water supply."

"Then burn it," Shina said quietly, her brown eyes downcast. "Burn her body and give her ashes to me."

The doctor bowed her head.


	11. Chapter 11

"Nadeshiko Village has seven inns," Shizune told the two as they walked, Naruto keeping a hand on Shina's; her bugs could sense Shina's stress and might act out. Naruto was keeping Shina grounded and her bugs from revolting. "Three of the inns have good food and are reasonably priced; two of them are super expensive and have casinos, and one of them is cheap and right outside the village, manned by men. Men stay there."

"Let's just go to one of the ones inside the village," Naruto suggested tightly.

~:~

Shina found herself sitting in a room, in a daze, with Naruto holding her head under her chin.

"Did you figure out how your parents died?"

Shina's soft question made Naruto pause for a fraction of a second. But Naruto returned to stroking Shina's hair.

"Yes," Naruto responded. "The Kyuubi showed me the night I was born a couple years ago." She never faltered. "They died by the Kyuubi's claw."

Shina moved her head, meeting Naruto's soft eyes.

"Kyuubi thought he would distract me from being nice to him after he showed me that."

Her eyes showed nothing but truth.

"How did you get past it?"

Naruto hesitated, then shrugged. "I suppose I understood his actions. Here." Naruto closed her eyes and put her finger near Shina's temple. "Let me show you."

Shina nodded, and Naruto put her finger on her temple.

~:~

Shizune quietly shut the door, the lights low. She set dinner down, smiling a little at the two teens asleep in the bed.

Well, Shina was asleep. Naruto - or the clone, as Naruto was apparently - looked at her with a tired smile.

"How is she?"

"Asleep." Guilt flashed across Naruto's face. "I don't think I should have done what I did."

Shizune wanted to ask, she really did, but didn't dare as Naruto brushed the hair out of Shina's face.

~:~

Shina entered Konoha with Shizune and her mother; her mother's Konoha hitai-ate wrapped around the urn her mother's remains were in.

Shikamaru, Naruto, and Asuma swarmed her; there was, as usual, no emotion on the other teen's face, but they knew how she felt. Shikamaru may not have known what they shared in common, but he would eventually if his father didn't resign his status.

Shina approached her father alone, silently entering his office at home and setting her mother's remains on the desk in front of him.

"She told me to tell you that they were real, to tell me to go to the KPF archives, and to save the eggs." Shina withdrew the medical examiner's report and set it lightly on the desk as well.

Her father was still and silent.

"I cannot tell you much more than I already know," he said in a quiet voice. "The Supaida Clan of Iwa are half-spider, half-human, and the enemies of our clan. You would have to look in the KPF files to fully understand; I cannot grant you access to the KPF files. You will have to get access through the only living member of the KPF."

Shina refrained from groaning, but barely.

~:~

Shina entered the training area of team seven. Holes in the earth showed that they had recently been there; she spotted them sitting together on the ground, panting. The three students were, anyway.

Shina walked to them as swiftly as her usual sedate walk would allow her.

"Uchiha-san," she said, startling all of them. Ino shrieked and tossed up her chips, Kiba whimpered as Akamaru jolted in his hair, and Sasuke jumped about a mile.

His black eyes turned to her.

"What?" he asked, his voice clipped.

Okay, so telling him that _she_ wanted to know something would get her nowhere, so she tried for a lie.

"My fathers bids me to ask you to allow me to retrieve documents that are held in the Konoha Police Force building."

Sasuke froze in shock.

Then he sighed. "Whatever. Take whatever you want from the archives."

"Many thanks," Shina said.

"How's your mother?" Ino asked innocently.

Shina stopped. "She died three days ago."

The stoic Aburame continued walking, unheeding of the looks of pity tossed at her back.


	12. Chapter 12

"So, what is this place, exactly?" Naruto followed behind Shina and Shikamaru.

"It's the old Konoha Police Force headquarters," Shikamaru replied. "I didn't want to go through the Uchiha District."

"Oh, yeah. I knew the guy who killed all of the Uchiha," Naruto said, Shikamaru flashing her a surprised look. "I haven't been near here since I spray painted all the uchiwa orange and blue."

"I bet that pissed off the Uchiha," Shikamaru smirked.

"No," Naruto shook her head. "They chased me off, but they were _henge_ 'd civilian Uchiha. They didn't really hate me all that much - even gave me free meals."

Shikamaru sighed. "Honestly, Naruto, everyone treated you like shit!"

"I know," Naruto shrugged. "I just couldn't go anywhere else."

Shina listened, but was paying them only half a mind as she followed her bugs. Her bugs, after all, were way faster than her and could relay things in a matter of seconds through other bugs.

She pushed through another frosted glass door, Naruto twitching a little. Even her bugs recorded the smell of old blood (a sickening stench, to be certain) and death. Naruto, having extra senses, would be highly affected by that.

"I believe that the system they used was alphabetical," Shina said after a moment. "I do not know if it would be under my clan name or not."

"Why not look in the directory?" Naruto, bless her heart, had found the directory. "Wow, these are so cool. They even have Uzumaki scrolls here!" She went back to the 'A' section. "Aburame, right?"

"An incident that the Aburame were involved in, yes."

Shikamaru huddled with her, Shina sending out her bugs to aid in the search.

Naruto stopped Shikamaru's hand as he flipped several pages, going back one page.

"'Aburame Murders, scrolls 61-101, rows 6-10 in Section A,'" Naruto read out.

Shina walked to it, her bugs pulling the scrolls out. Instead of leaving, she decided to let Naruto and Shikamaru liberate what scrolls they could, all sealed with the uchiwa symbol but not blood-sealed (which would have been easy to bypass).

She broke open the first one, a symbol flashing at the top.

 _Aburames have been murdered in their own home,_ was the gist of all the scrolls she was reading. _Enemy of Aburame? Spider symbol found over the homes. Incurable poison found in bloodstreams of the victims. Black lines indicate the veins rotting; does not reach heart to kill, reaches head and shuts down the brain._

Shina inwardly winced.

"That symbol." Naruto's voice rose and caught her attention. Clones were holding and sealing scrolls; she set the scrolls that she held and probably pertained to her clan in the arms of a clone. "Kyuubi says that he's seen that symbol before. Belonged, a long time ago, to the lady Arachne. She was cursed by some lady, had a bunch of half-spider descendants." She frowned.

"I must tell my father," Shina said abruptly. "Uchiha-san said that I may take whatever I wished. So I will keep a bug clone here and return to my father."

Shina created one and made several _shunshin_ leaps, ending up in front of her clan compound in six steps.

The young Aburame walked into her father's study, not seeing the other members, and nodded at her father, the regular greeting that was barely noticeable.

"Father, I have done what you asked."

She turned, her bugs buzzing insistently at her, and instantly bowed her head noticeably in apology.

"My apologies for the interruption."

"None needed," Danzou said in a genial tone. "Aburame-sama, why not invite your daughter in the discussion? After all, it is my members that will be protecting her."

Shibi was pissed, though no outsider could see it.

"Danzou-sama has... _Graciously_ informed me of the threat to the Aburame clan. Seeing as he has no wish to see it decimated, he has proposed that you be guarded until the Supaida clan is destroyed." Her father was withholding information.

"And." Danzou's voice was carefully cheerful.

"And that if he does this, you become the jinchuuriki for the Seven-Tails."

Shina withheld her surprise. "If I might enquire as to the fate of the other jinchuuriki?" Shina asked carefully.

"Old and ailing," Danzou said flatly. "Your status as an heiress means you would be held in the highest honor."

"I am certain I would be," Shina droned. "However, if I am to do this, I want no favors from you."

Her voice was perfectly bland.

In the corner of her eyes, she could see the briefest of movements in the charged air.

A bug settled on her shoulder.

She didn't lose her composure; she was too much like her father for that.

It wasn't her bug.

"That is true. But if you were to disagree, I'm not certain your father could produce another heir." The meaning wasn't lost on her.

"Indeed," Shina allowed. "I am not afraid to die. You cannot afford to anger the other clans." Perhaps she was treading on thin ice. But she was Aburame Shina. "Would not stealing Taki's jinchuuriki be suicidal and cause for war?"

"The leader let us buy the beast."

 _Sure. You didn't use the Uchiha eye you have to convince him._

"I am also certain that even if we didn't kill you, you wouldn't want to be orphaned, now would you? Losing one parent, then the next in such a short timespan."

Naruto had told her about 'Ne', about what the Kyuubi had known about it. They thought having feelings was a weakness.

"I have one condition for being the Seven-Tail's jinchuuriki." Shina hid her tiny smirk. "You allow Uzumaki Naruto to perform the sealing with Jiraiya of the Sannin, and you are nowhere near it. Otherwise you are, as I believe the phrase is, _shit out of luck."_

Shina bowed her head and walked out.

The bug remained there, and when she was a safe distance away, she allowed herself to speak aloud.

"Hello, cousin."

Her cousin's presence was near to her.

"Hello, Shina." Torune's greeting was very soft.

She turned to meet his eyes, which, despite everything else being non-Aburame, were covered with the usual Aburame sunglasses.

For a moment, they were silent.

Shina turned and left the house, ignoring the bug keeping an eye on her.

~:~

"Naruto, may I spend the night at your place?"

Naruto blinked up at Shina.

"Sure?" she said in a questioning voice.

"My house is filled with unwanted guests at the current moment," Shina said quietly. Naruto nodded. "Sure."

"Hey, kids."

Both teens started, but only because their sensei's arrival was unprecedented.

"Got a mission for tonight." Shikamaru sat there, extremely lazily. "Painting a fence."

"How did you both get _right there_ without us noticing?" Naruto cried out, placing a hand over her heart.

"He picked me up and set me here," Shikamaru said with an eyeroll.

"Be warned," Shina said in her usual monotone. "The roots of Konoha's tree are like eyes in the daytime and filled with sinister purpose all the time."

For a moment, there was silence. Naruto knew what she meant.

"Nice poetry," Asuma commented. "Sure you're not considering being a poet instead of a ninja?"

"It is my duty," Shina replied flatly. "Where is this job?"

"At one of the sentry posts," Asuma replied. "Thirty miles from Konoha."

"Adequate." Why Shina agreed so quickly, Naruto found out pretty soon.


	13. Chapter 13

**For those of you who might think the ending to this chapter is a bit TOO perfect, I made it like that on purpose.**

 **If you have any questions, I'll answer them on the next chapter!**

 **~:~**

They were five miles outside Konoha when Naruto exploded.

"ALRIGHT!" she bellowed, whirling around. "If one of you damned 'Ne' members so much as _brushes my senses without revealing yourselves_ AGAIN _,_ I will _not be responsible_ for my actions!"

Two people finally appeared, Shina resolutely ignoring them.

Naruto, however, stared at them in bewilderment. One was definitely an Aburame, judging by the glasses, and the other a Yamanaka.

"Huh," Naruto thought out loud before turning away. "I thought they'd be different. Who'd want a Yamanaka and an Aburame on the same team as each other?"

"Don't let Torune touch you if he turns purple." Shina's voice somehow conveyed coldness. "It's lethal poison to all but those who can counter it."

"It would be appreciated if you did not give my powers up," Torune rumbled, his bass voice as expressionless as Shina's.

"It would be appreciated if you had not followed me." Shina continued walking, forcing everyone else to walk or let her go ahead of them.

"You're annoyed?" the Yamanaka asked, appearing right behind Shina with the Aburame.

"No."

"Now?"

"No."

"Now?"

"No."

"Now?"

"No."

"Oh dear Kamis," Asuma muttered. "If this continues, I'm going to have to kill you both."

For a moment, there was blessed silence.

"Now?"

Naruto looked at Shina's face and touched her chakra.

Shina _was_ annoyed.

Naruto held her amusement in check.

"Now?"

~:~

"So I lied." Asuma shrugged at his students' looks as he and the leader of Taki conversed. A young girl was going to Konoha, her face set. Angry. "I told my students that I was taking them just outside Konoha."

"Ah. Nice one." Shibuki looked worried. Really, really worried about the young girl he was, in essence, _selling_ to Konoha. "Fuu -"

"Please don't," Fuu requested. She had no weapons on her. Asuma only knew a little bit of the reason Fuu was coming.

The group started back to Konoha when Asuma finally broached the subject.

"So why do you have a guard with you?"

"A clan of killer spider people from Iwagakure," Shina said flatly.

"They tend to kill Aburame off in droves," the other Aburame supplied. "They devour most of the body, then leave just enough to make their symbol."

"That is nasty," Naruto said, shuddering.

"True. However, I would honestly prefer death than being stuck with guards." Shina's cold words made the Aburame flinch.

"I thought he was your family." The Yamananka's head tilted.

Shina didn't answer him, instead walking faster and ignoring him.

~:~

"Too bad. I was looking forward to more of a challenge," a man with silver hair that was slicked back said with a wide smirk. He was bare-chested, alone, and wearing shinobi pants. He picked out the easiest targets and nodded to himself. "Jashin-sama will be pleased by one sacrifice, anyway. Hahaha!"

Making his chakra minuscule, he leapt up in a tree.

Given that he could tell two among them were sensors, one was an advanced Aburame and one was a clearly _angry_ Aburame, he had to pretend he was going for the Nara.

He wasn't an idiot; rash at times, yes (when he didn't get his daily sacrifice in, or when Kakuzu was around him), but not an idiot to not have a plan.

As a bonus, he could get a jinchuuriki _and_ a bounty. The Fire Guardian possibly had money on his head. Kakuzu wouldn't be pissed if he got him the bounty, right?

He waited... And waited...

And _struck,_ like a viper.

One step, a surprise feint, a quick kill.

The Aburame didn't have a chance to move as he sank the kunai into her chest.

"For Jashin-sama!" he crowed, pulling the kunai out and licking the blood.

The other Aburame took the girl's and dragged her to the side. She was still alive, but barely.

There was one thing he didn't anticipate.

Two pairs of glowing red jinchuuriki eyes flashing in his vision made him run.

An unearthly scream rent the air, and the Kyuubi itself appeared.

~:~

Despite his rage, Shikamaru never expected that this would happen. He could hear and see things in a hyper-aware way, feel the pull of the Kyuubi that made him want to lose control.

But he remained in control, even as Naruto's entire body seemed to change.

The Kyuubi roared as both human and bijuu tore after the member of the Akatsuki who had so brutally sank a kunai into their teammate's chest.

Speaking of -

"Shina, stay with me." The Aburame sounded fearful; the Yamanaka kept a hand on her forehead.

"She'll not survive this," the Yamanaka said, taking the hand off of her forehead. "Danzou-sama will have to wait for another possibility for a jinchuuriki."

Asuma-sensei looked angry. "Danzou was going to force my student to become a jinchuuriki?"

The Aburame sighed, sounding frustrated. "Threats of killing her family were what he used," he said quickly. Shina's choked breath made him swear a little.

The final member of the group stared at Shina and the Aburame, listening to something Shikamaru couldn't hear.

"I must speak with the Kyuubi."

Not even a second later, Naruto bounded into the clearing looking very burned. Her eyes were red, and she got up into Fuu's face.

"What?!" came the angry voice of the Kyuubi. "What do you want?"

Fuu held her fist out.

Kyuubi tapped it.

The Kyuubi's eyes widened.

"I shall do it."

"Whatever it is you're doing, do it fast," the Yamanaka snapped. "She's almost completely gone."

Both Naruto and Fuu approached Shina's body.

Naruto/Kyuubi held out a hand, setting themselves right between the two Ne members. The Kyuubi placed a hand on Shina's body; red chakra surfaced on all three of them, being drawn from Fuu and placed into Shina's body.

Fuu crumpled as soon as the last of her chakra had faded. There was nothing to indicate she was alive; when the Kyuubi stopped, chakra still lingered around Shina.

The Kyuubi moved swiftly, slicing Shina's jacket and flipping up her shirt to show pale skin.

The Kyuubi placed his palm on Shina's stomach, and a black seal appeared.

To Shikamaru's untrained eyes, it looked like Naruto's, with subtle differences.

"She'll live," the Kyuubi said quietly.

~:~

Shina woke up in Naruto's arms.

Berating herself mentally for having been angry, for not sensing the bastard who had stabbed her, Shina opened her mouth to ask Naruto to drop her.

A croak exited her mouth, and everyone crowded around her.

"You're awake!" Naruto looked like she was going to cry. "When he stabbed you I thought -" Naruto bit her lip.

Shina moved, only to stop.

"Yeah, don't move," Naruto winced. "Fuu... Transferred her bijuu to you."

Shina blinked.

"Danzou lied to you," her cousin said in an unexpectedly thick voice. "The girl with you was the jinchuuriki."

Shina did the only rational thing.

She passed out.

~:~

Chomei stared dispassionately at the human, who stared back at her just as dispassionately.

"This is not going to work," the human said.

"No," Fuu's voice said. Her chakra remained in this human, who Fuu had already been going to die for.

It wasn't fair.

But, Chomei did admit this body - while needing a few modifications - would suit her needs better than Fuu did. Fuu had been unable to control bugs with the ease of an Aburame; and this Aburame's chakra coils were already used to jinchuuriki chakra, thanks to the Uzumaki.

"If we work together, then I believe that everything will work out."

Chomei scoffed. "I do not see Kurama and that pestilence working together," she spat, thinking of the bijuu in the blond-haired child.

"If you insult Naruto again, we will never co-exist," the Aburame said with unnerving calm.

Chomei hesitated, thinking again of the blonde brat and Kurama. They had an... Ease with each other that was kind of scary. Kurama did not care about humans, and yet he allowed this one to control him? Inconceivable.

No - not control. Chomei pulled the memory of her interaction through Fuu with Kurama and the blonde brat.

They... Cooperated.

"We will probably never attain the same amount of friendship as they have," the Aburame went on to say.

"What is it you desire?" Chomei asked carefully.

"The ability to be able to protect my family." Chomei heard the notes in her voice carefully; Shina's voice revealed nothing to her that wasn't already known. But her mindscape -

Chomei was in the middle of a brilliantly styled garden. Flowers waved gently in the sands; bright patterns mixed with dark ones. A kaleidoscope-patterned walkway depicted her emotional state; Chomei admired it enough to not want to damage it.

\- her mindscape showed she was being honest.

Chomei paused for a moment -

-and the place shifted from the tranquil garden to a sewer.

"Shina!"

The Aburame turned to see the blonde girl run over to her; Chomei found her attention snatched by the open cell, in which Kurama lazed.

"Kurama, what is the meaning of your relationship with the blonde child?"

The Kyuubi cracked open an eye.

"Why?" The Kyuubi asked, gaining the two humans' attention.

Chomei hesitated.

"My human's an idiot," Kurama said unexpectedly. "She's headstrong, impulsive, and one of the most unpredictable, annoying creatures on the planet. There's also your human, who is extremely smart and exceptionally good at being forgettable." Chomei wondered if that was a good human quality... "And then there's the other lazy-ass of a human. He's smart, extremely so. He balances my human's stupid with your human's smart with his smarts and laziness. All three are dedicated. And you ask me what my relationship is with my human, my kit? Because I like my kit. My kits, as a matter of fact."

Chomei shrank inwardly a little.

The blonde child is weeping a little, while the Aburame's face is as hidden as it had been when she'd first appeared in the Aburame's mind.

And with a start, Chomei realized something.

She'd never been bound like she had been in Fuu's mind inside of the Aburame's mind.

"Um... Nanabi-san?" The blonde brat looked at her tentatively. "Please be nice to Shina. She might not be all that approachable and stuff right now, but hurting her won't make any of this go away."

Chomei knew that.

"Chomei," she said at last. "I am Lucky Seven Chomei."

"And I am Kurama, though you already knew that," Kurama said, glaring at Chomei before affection came into his red eyes as he looked at the two humans.

Chomei bent her head. "I will not take over you, or ruin your mindscape. I cannot give you a faster acceleration of healing; using the Uzumaki's chakra you have already gained it to some extent."

The Aburame nodded to her. "Thank you, Chomei-san."

"All my jinchuuriki can fly and use bomb powder," Chomei added. "I would advise making your dress code less strict; you'll need open air to fly."

Shina nodded. "I will do that as soon as the issue of the Supaida Clan is taken care of."

Chomei allowed herself to fall back into her new mindscape.

Even as she did, Fuu appeared before her.

"Mind if I keep you company?" the soul of the girl said with a smile.

Chomei enfolded the spirit in her wings.

"Stay as long as you wish."


	14. Chapter 14

Shina opened her eyes to seeing Torune and Fu, the Yamanaka, both hovering over her.

"Cousin," she said carefully. "Non-cousin." She sat up, seeing the space around her with the Sarutobi symbols on it. This was the Sarutobi clan home, it seemed, and Shina felt like she was intruding - until she saw Shikamaru sleeping on Naruto's shoulder against the door.

Shina felt like laughing, but held herself in check. She padded out of the room, her shadows following her silently.

Asuma was drinking coffee with Kurenai-sensei; both stopped as she entered.

"Asuma-sensei," she said, bowing, "I thank you for letting me stay the night."

"Is she always so formal?" Kurenai asked lowly.

"Yep," Asuma grinned. "Hey, since we failed the A-Rank, Hokage-sama's sending us all on a mission with Kakashi's team tomorrow. Figured you needed the rest - out for a week and all that."

Shina didn't think much of being out for a week. After all, she'd either been close to dying or really dead for a few minutes. Also...

"Does she know of my condition?"

Asuma shook his head. "I wasn't sure if you wanted to tell anyone."

"I do not care if you tell Kurenai-sensei," Shina said blandly. "I must get home." She looked back at the room for a moment. "Would you tell Naruto I will see her later, at her home? I must thank her, after all."

"Your father told me to tell you that he gave his permission for you to stay here with Shikamaru and Naruto." At Shina's invisible surprise, he added, "I asked the Hokage about that."

Shina nodded. "I will be back tonight."

She left the Sarutobi compound, taking to the roof silently. She had to adjust the pressure of chakra every few minutes, otherwise she'd go flying off the building and land right outside the wall that shielded Konoha.

She dropped down right outside Aburame land, then walked past the guard. One of her bugs exchanged pleasantries with his bugs, and he made no move to stop her.

Once there, she leaped into the air and got to her home faster than ever.

She dropped right in front, then entered the house, slipping her shoes off.

"Daughter." It was empty without her mother. Her father stood there, looking severe as usual. "I have heard quite a lot of rumors. One was that you nearly died on your mission. I had heard they brought a body back."

"Cousin Torune can tell you what happened," Shina said, lowering her head. "I am a failure, Father. I failed to sense the one who attacked me."

She fully expected to get a sense of disappointment, but even as she felt it and it lowered her spirits, Torune jumped to her defense.

"Uncle, it was not her fault. The one who attacked and stabbed her is excellent at hiding his chakra and quite good at _genjutsu_. I cannot tell you everything; but I can tell you that Uzumaki Naruto, the best sensor this village has to offer, did not think anything amiss when the chakra came at us - it was so small it could have been a bird's chakra."

"Then I am not disappointed," Shibi replied.

"That is not all that happened," Shina added quietly. "In order to save my life, Naruto did the only thing she could, and the one we were escorting here sacrificed herself to do it."

Her father did not understand the nature of bijuu.

"I was sealed with the Nanabi."

...speechlessness was a good sign, right?

Even if it was, Shina took the opportunity to flee.

~:~

"Why are we _all_ going?" Haruno Sakura whined for the fifth time.

Kurenai-sensei was a goddess to have put up with _that_ the entire way.

"Because it's a training mission!" Kakashi-sensei said with faked enthusiasm. "Plus, we're evaluating on how well some villages work together. So, the mission."

"Fake mission, Kakashi," Sasuke scowled.

"Show your teacher respect," Shina said, startling half of the group.

"I have no respect for an eye-stealer," Sasuke hissed.

"Nor do you have respect for your entire clan's murderer," Naruto said cheerfully. "Otherwise using the _Chidori_ on him would've been the _last_ resort. You know, since it's the _only_ jutsu you know."

"Don't talk to Sasuke-kun like that!" Sakura yelled.

"Don't shriek, banshee," Shikamaru yawned. "You disturbed my sleep."

There was a weird pause.

"Are you all so weird?" Tenten asked, her sensei and teammate conspicuously absent (having gone _way_ ahead of them), looking at Hinata - who looked at her once and then turned bright pink.

"Disgraceful," Neji said.

Hinata's cheeks flushed even more and she looked down.

"That's rude," Ino said, looking like Neji was a piece of filth stuck on the ground. As clan heiress, she knew being rude to Hinata was uncalled for.

"Yeah, that's rude." Naruto scowled at Neji.

"Coming from a clanless orphan, that's nothing," Neji said snidely.

"You should not be so sure of that," Shina said flatly, smirking under the cover of her jacket.

Naruto nodded. "Shina's right, dattebayo!" She grinned at him. "You're looking at the last of the Uzumaki clan, Hyuuga brat!"

There was a stunned _halt_ in the middle of the road as Team Ten and Kurenai kept walking.

(In other words, it was like a bitchslap to the ones that _didn't_ know that Naruto was the heiress of such a prestigious clan. The Uzumaki, after all, were the ones legends had been crafted of.)

Shina tapped Naruto, thinking of something.

Naruto smirked.

To say that what Shina said after jogging to them was mind-boggling _at least_ was a huge understatement.

"You might need some ice for that burn," she said in her usual flat voice after giving Sasuke the huge bag of ice Naruto usually carried with her in a sealed scroll.

"...did an Aburame just make a joke?" Ino asked her teammates.

Even Kiba and Akamaru were stunned.

~:~

"...great," Kankuro said, staring at the team in front of him. "Why _them?"_

The other teams were watching this interaction with amazement.

Baki swallowed. "Um. Hi."

"Hi!" The blonde girl immediately gravitated to Gaara and whispered something in his ear. Not being a jinchuuriki, Kankuro didn't hear it.

Obviously, it surprised Gaara; he looked at the bug-user with surprise in his normally dull teal eyes.

Naruto looked hesitant, but then Gaara nodded.

"Shina, come over here!"

Shina immediately walked over to them.

"Gaara-san," she said.

"Aburame-san," Gaara said, nodding at her.

"Great! You're not murdering each other!"

"I believe that your assumption is based on two words."

"Well, it's a start! I'm going to leave you two emotionally repressed teens alone while I talk to Temari!" The blonde bounced over to Temari, pointed to her fan, and asked what it was for.

Temari began talking about her weapons.

That left the dark one.

"Hey," the Nara yawned. "My teammates are idiots. By the way, why do you pretend to be your puppet?"

Kankuro sighed.

 _He hoped this nightmare would end. It would be just his luck that he turned just as crazy as the Konoha morons._

~:~

"We're off to do _what_ now?"

Kankuro's priceless expression of _what the fuck is wrong with you to be so happy about_ _ **training?**_ was heard in that single statement.

"Train," Temari snapped back. "We're training to build up some trust."

"But you already trust us!" Naruto said, looking upset.

"Maybe," Shikamaru said with a bored yawn. "But their superiors don't. So my guess is, whichever team goes back with less bruises ought to be the one to be least suspicious of."

"Then I suppose we'll just train until we drop, and then train more!" Naruto beamed.

"According to you, Naruto, Shikamaru and I are Earth-natured while you and the Sand Siblings are wind-natured." Shina didn't react to their surprise. "I do not see how this will work."

"We all mostly know earth and wind jutsu," Temari admitted. "Wind-natured chakra is rare, but not _too_ rare. It's like... Water in the desert. You can find it. Using _only_ wind, we'd all be dead."

"Sounds true," Naruto nodded. Shina thought that it was a necessity, _especially_ in the desert.

"So we'll teach you," smiled Temari. "Call us 'senpai'!"

"Call me senpai and I'll kill you," Gaara said flatly.

"Yes, Gaara-senpai!" Naruto laughed cheekily.

Shina spotted Shikamaru facepalming.


	15. Chapter 15

"Look, you're doing it wrong," Temari said, correcting Naruto's seals with slow motion seals. "Here. _Now_ do it."

"That feels wrong," Naruto said, her brows furrowing. "It feels like I'm forcing it."

"Normally you'd have to have a medium," Temari answered. "I have my fan."

She patted the giant fan.

"But wouldn't it be useless if it got ripped or something?" Naruto looked at her in true confusion.

"It's reinforced." Temari thought about it. "But, actually, you're right." She eyed her fan skeptically. "There's no way that I use this and it comes out all right in a battlefield. If I don't get another weapon, I'll be dead within an hour if there's a war."

"That would suck," Naruto said, bluntly.

Temari flushed. "Yeah, it would." Temari clapped her hands. "So, I'm going to get you a fan!"

"As much as that would be cool," Naruto said with a smile, "I don't think that'd be practical."

"Why not?"

"I'm pretty sure most of my village is fire natured."

There was a pause.

"Right, um, then let's find some other medium for your chakra."

~:~

"Please, _stop,"_ Kankuro _begged_ the bug user. "Your bugs are eating through my puppets."

"What else are my bugs to eat? Your chakra?"

"No – what of fruit? Fruit can –"

"Are you joking? I am afraid I do not know Suna jokes; my bugs cannot eat fruit, and while they could feed off my chakra, it would be rather disastrous in the long run."

"I'm going to find a wood your insects _can't_ eat through!"

"I wish you good luck on that endeavor of yours, Kankuro-san."

~:~

"You relaxed yet?"

"Yes," the teal-eyed boy next to him said. "Is this what you do all day?"

"No, I train, but… Watching clouds is _way_ more interesting, don't you think?"

"Yes… I think I do…" Gaara almost fell asleep, but instead raised a sort of barrier against the sun.

"Oh, I forgot," Shikamaru yawned. "We don't want to be extra crispy."

"Or dead," Gaara added, closing his eyes.

Yes… This was relaxing.

~:~

"I _refuse_ to work with the – with the bug girl!" Kankuro's puppet was nothing more than a pile of wood. "Her bugs ate through my puppet!"

"Father, I need a new weapon! Something _like_ a fan, but not made like my current fan!" Temari flung open her battle fan and showed her father the rips that Naruto had made in the fan. "My fan needs some way to remain its durability and yet remain light!"

Gaara blinked at them owlishly. "You two are ridiculous."

"What, did you laze around in the sand all day?" Kankuro growled, forgetting that it was _Gaara_ he was talking to.

"No," Gaara said. "We did some training, too." He walked to the table and frowned.

"What's wrong?" Rasa asked, his other two children's complaints having gone in one ear and out the other.

"I…" Gaara paused. "Would like to learn to cook."

"Maybe _that's_ something Naruto can teach you," Temari said, half listening and half paying attention to her fan. "Gods know Tou-san isn't a great cook."

"Agreed," Kankuro muttered.

"Mm-hmm," Rasa absently added.

Gaara stared at the table for a long moment.

~:~

"…add a pinch of salt, and there you go!"

Gaara added a pinch of salt, careful not to let any of his sand near the soup.

"Wait ten minutes, and then you will have to take it off the stove," Shina said from where she was leaning on her counter.

"And you don't _have_ to add lemon, but it does give a bit of kick to it. Adding it when you're inexperienced isn't a good idea, because you might add too much and ruin the soup," Shikamaru yawned.

"Guys! _I'm_ teaching, here!" Naruto waved her ladle at the other two.

"We have seen you cook this dish seven times," Shina deadpanned.

"Enough to know how you make it," Shikamaru grinned.

Naruto scowled at them, but it let up as she turned back to Gaara.

"Wanna make a dessert afterwards?"

Gaara nodded. He still had time.

~:~

Rasa blinked at the three extra additions to the table.

"Did I gain three children?" he asked Temari, who frowned.

"Father, you said we could invite them over."

"I did?" Rasa frowned… And then understood. He must've had other matters on his mind and must have given a noncommittal _mm-hmm_ to his children.

"Yep. And Gaara cooked tonight's dinner – Naruto says that it's to her standards."

"If you are worried it is poisoned, Kazekage-sama, please do not be. We would be poisoning ourselves with our village's best soup, given to Naruto by the Akimichi matriarch herself," the Aburame announced.

"Er, to be on the safe side, Kazekage-sama, I left out the chocolate in the recipe," Naruto said, looking mildly scared.

Rasa eyed the tomato soup, then looked at Naruto again.

"…this calls for _chocolate,_ normally?"

"Er… Yes?"

Rasa sipped the soup.

"Not bad."

~:~

"You know, I'm surprised you didn't end up poisoning the Kazekage, Naruto." Shikamaru kept walking, a smile appearing on his face. An _almost_ evil smile.

"Why? It was the recipe Kairi-san gave me."

Shikamaru burst into laughter. "Because you added _sugar_ instead of _salt!"_

Naruto paled. "I did?!" She stopped walking, turning her back on the road to her village. Asuma sighed and grabbed the back of her vest, preventing her from returning to Suna to stop Gaara from _maybe_ poisoning the population of Suna.

(She didn't know what allergies the people of Suna had. Luckily, her mistake had caused Gaara to think that the sugar was necessary.)

~:~:~:~:~

 **So... That happened? I don't even know about that last part, okay, I was trying to come up with something and I don't know how to cook... Well, I CAN cook some things but there's no way I can make tomato soup without the instructions. So yeah... Oh, I would not advise adding sugar to your tomato soup.**


	16. Chapter 16

For a few more months, everything seemed fine.

Until Sasuke left, and that's really when things went to shit.

~:~

"It's my fault!" Naruto burst out. "If I hadn't been in that hospital, recovering from that weird chakra-sickness shit, then Sasuke and I wouldn't have fought!"

Naruto had been in the hospital for two weeks. A poison, created by the Hidden Star Village, entered the chakra system and corrupted it.

"It is not true. He would have left eventually," Shina reassured her friend. She'd gotten stronger since that training session; no huge plot had been unraveled since them. Tentative plans for the future had been made, and Naruto was planning on taking a two-year training trip.

Shikamaru was taking a month to help in his clan - they weren't exactly doing _terrible,_ but Shikamaru was going through extra training.

Shina herself had danger ahead of her, but she ignored that for this moment.

"Yeah, but I just _kickstarted_ it. He infuriated me! I was going to use the Rasengan on him!"

Naruto looked terrible.

"It would not have been a tragic loss if he died," Shina admitted. "There are few people who like him after Konoha's spectacular Chuunin Exams." Where he'd faced Neji. Failure!

Those that did want him back were very few.

"I'm going to get him back," Naruto said firmly. She had faced him, fought him - Shina had been unable to go, as she had been fighting some bandits elsewhere in Hi no Kuni with Kurenai-sensei's team.

"I assumed you would say that," Shina replied. "I will help you, even though I particularly do not like him."

Naruto smiled. "I knew you'd say that. But... I feel like only I can."

Shina shook her head. "That is a lie. I _will_ help you."

Naruto smiled. "Okay." She closed her eyes. "I'm leaving in the morning, to train with Jiraiya."

Shina was shocked. "What?" she asked, barely keeping the monotone. "I suppose learning from a Sannin would be best, if you plan on getting him back."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. I do."

Shina nodded and stood.

"No matter where you go, I will always be near," Shina told her.

Naruto smiled. "Thanks, Shina," she said gratefully.

Shina inclined her head, knowing her friend was going to do something reckless.

 _Come back alive,_ she wanted to say. She didn't want Naruto to realize she knew, though.

Besides, her shadows were back.

~:~

Naruto was gone with Jiraiya; not that Shina had expected much else.

She was alone, barely protected, and her senses as a jinchuuriki were on high alert here. Her and Asuma-sensei - who had provided this asinine plan to Tsunade-sama like it was a piece of cake - had gone as close to Iwa as they dared under the guise of a mission.

Their stupid, ridiculous, _insane_ plan was happening. Shina had heard the spiders, after all.

Her kikaichuu buzzed, restless.

Since she didn't want her colony completely depleted, she'd left a bug clone back in Konoha.

"Well?"

"You should go get food," Shina said blandly. "I will watch the camp."

That was his signal to hide.

"You're hungry already?"

"You should get food for the journey ahead," Shina advised.

Torune's scent _and_ Shina's scent should nab the Supaida Clan's attention.

 _Murderers of the Clan are here,_ she heard a spider say. _Murderers, killers._

Shina had no grudge against spiders. Her mother had always been fearful of them; Shina could never understand why.

Now, she understood why none of her clan used _spiders._

She rolled over and tried to get some sleep.

~:~

When she did wake up, groggy and out of it, she found herself face to bottom with a spider's bottom. And she got it. She truly understood why spiders were so creepy. Why this plan in particular was probably going to get her killed.

She was dumped on the ground.

Dark spider-like eyes glared at her from a human face. Pinchers extended grotesquely from the spider-woman's mouth, clicking together. Antennae extended from her head.

Shina hid her alarm well. Well.

 _What would Naruto do?_

Well, if Shina hadn't decided to disobey her father, Shina wouldn't be in this mess. Shina refused to do Naruto's habit of 'kicking and screaming'.

"The two Aburame are here," the spider-woman hissed to nothing in particular.

Hisses were heard all over; Shina refused to shudder.

A spider-man appeared; his spider features taking more of his face. He let Torune slide off of him, her cousin's equally paralyzed body sliding down with a thud.

Clicks were heard.

"We only need one," the original spider-woman responded. Shina realized they were trying to psychologically torture them; they had no need to speak aloud.

"Use the boy? But he stinks of poison. Using the female would be better; less chance of something going wrong," the spider woman said to more clicks.

Louder clicks echoed.

"Whichever one is the heir we will use."

Shina cleared her throat.

"You may speak, murderess." Shina didn't pay much attention to her last word.

"I am heir," Shina said, her monotone still there.

"You are not injured," the woman said with a smirk. "Score him," she instructed the spider-man. "Using the one without poison would be better; if you survived it, you would be giving the highest honor of being devoured from the inside."

"Don't... Touch him," Shina said, an idea coming to her. "The eggs... You need a host for the eggs."

"Living flesh would open them in enough time," the spider-woman cackled.

"In time... For what?" Torune grunted.

"Mating year," the woman snickered.

 _The eggs,_ her mother whispered.

Clicks were heard.

The spider-people turned and walked out, the woman clicking angrily.

Mating year...

Shina looked at her cousin, and one of her bugs landed on his shoulder.

The two Aburame knew what had to be done.

~:~

"Say, Naruto. Why weren't you placed with Kakashi?" Jiraiya's eyes looked down upon her.

"Because the old man knew I was balanced with Shina and Shika, why?" the Kyuubi jinchuuriki questioned, her normally happy orbs staring at him in suspicion.

Jiraiya shrugged. "It just seemed odd. Kakashi -"

"Did nothing. You didn't, either, so let's not go there." Her suddenly frosty demeanor reminded Jiraiya why it wasn't a good idea to piss the girl off.

Jiraiya opened his mouth when Naruto stood from the ground, holding out her hand.

There was a flash of red, and the Kyuubi jinchuuriki facepalmed.

"Shina, you goddamn idiot!"


	17. Chapter 17

Shina pulled herself up, her arms trembling. Chomei had refused to give her help, citing it was her choices that led her here - that it was her own folly.

Shina very carefully stopped herself from snapping at Chomei.

"Stay here," she whispered to her cousin.

Torune's eyes fluttered. Shina dragged herself deeper into the cave system, following her bugs.

She was weak in Katon jutsus, but Naruto Asuma-sensei both had agreed and taught Shika and Shina fire jutsus; both Naruto and Asuma-sensei agreed that having a versatile jutsu arsenal didn't limit one as much as only covering the basics of their ability.

Her kikaichuu gave her steady reports, telling her where she needed to go in order to reach the eggs.

Shina had a choice: to allow the spiders to use her corpse as a hatching ground, or to destroy the chance that one would escape and cause further harm to her clan.

Clans exterminated each other all the time.

 _Save the eggs,_ her mother had insisted.

And again, Shina nearly froze and turned back, to learn more, to be injected with the venom.

But she didn't feel like killing her cousin, no matter how bad she felt about killing the spider-people.

Chomei's chakra flooded her system, and Shina created a Kage Bunshin of herself.

"Get Torune out of here," she whispered to her clone.

She continued on.

Webs hit her face, sticky and nasty. Shina didn't complain, deciding her discomfort was nothing.

She turned a corner and halted.

She'd forgotten another aspect of her mother's life. In Nadeshiko Village, her mother had been able to use her spirit to possess enemies to kill them quickly. But this...

Shina swallowed, but walked forward. Her mother's spirit phased into hers, and Shina heard her voice.

 _Destroy it if you must._

Her mother's presence vanished, and Shina stalked forward. Intent on doing her duty both to her clan - by destroying the eggs - and the village - killing the spider-people.

Sanctioned mission or not (not), Shina had been kidnapped (purposefully) and the Supaida clan would pay.

She stared at the room she came upon and fought not to throw up.

A huge ball of eggs met her vision. Clearly, the eggs had to be pushed into other hosts; there was no way they'd let Torune go - if Shina hadn't sent her clone...

Shina formed the handsigns.

"Katon: Hosenka no justu!"

Luckily for her, Shina had correctly guessed that the eggs were flammable.

Shina turned back and went as fast as she could.

None of the spiders would feel it, hopefully - the smoke burning their beloved eggs would render their senses useless, and they would have a quiet death.

Or they'd race to get out.

Shina's bugs had told her that the spiders had three exits; she'd told Asuma to close up the others.

She breathed out more fireballs behind her, the fire catching the webs.

One spider-woman approached her and slashed at her.

Shina avoided her nails, only to get swatted to the side by an unseen one behind her.

"Murderess!" the spider-woman clicked - and it was a horrifying shock that Shina realized that the clicks were making sense to her now.

Well... She was not the biggest fan of arachnids, but she could live with it.

The spider-woman leaned closer, and it was with genuine disgust and fear that Shina turned from the spider-woman.

(Shina would later joke, in her quiet, unassuming way of hers, that it was the breath that made her turn.)

Now, though, all _rational_ thoughts escaped her.

"We were once part of your clan, dedicated to the spider-handling. And because we _evolved,_ you Aburame think you can destroy us."

Her bugs returned.

"I cannot," Shina whispered as smoke started coming in again. "But my sensei _can."_

The spider-woman's eyes reflected Shina in that moment.

"Then you will die with us."

And before Shina knew it, the spider-woman ripped into her throat.

~:~

Asuma stuck his pipe into his mouth. Shina's Kage Bunshin waited, and waited - and Fu vanished from Torune's side.

"Fu - I can't -"

His words died as grotesque spider-creatures tried to escape.

Asuma had no choice but to light the grass on fire in front of them, wondering if his student was okay.

The mountain itself would collapse.

Just as he was preparing himself to do the final jutsu, his student staggered out, clutching her throat, Fu helping her along and jumping over the fire.

Asuma performed the final act: Sealing the final mountain entrance.

The dying screams of the Supaida clan were extinguished, the threat gone.

He doused the flame in front of the mountain, then lit the brush on fire again. He had no desire for any to escape the mountain dwellers' hell.

He turned to his student, smiling - and his smile vanished as he took in the blood and blackish fluid on the girl's neck.

"We need to get them to Konoha," Fu said before he passed out, his hand on Shina's head.

Asuma cursed as Shina's clone popped.

~:~

"Sakura, get three beds prepped now!" Tsunade stormed into the hospital room Sakura was in. The fangirl nodded and followed Tsunade's direction. "Get all the regular antidotes to known poisons; get Aburame Shibi, and tell an operating nurse or doctor I will be presiding over this operation myself."

Sakura bowed.

Soon, there were three unconscious nin on the three beds - one just got a de-paralytic, one was unconscious because of chakra exhaustion, and one got her throat ripped and was bleeding out.

The kunoichi being operated on was vaguely familiar - as Sakura and Tsunade both held their hands over her neck, Sakura tried to think.

She stopped, though, when it became clear she wasn't concentrating enough.

Aburame Shibi appeared in the room about halfway through, staring at the poisoned girl on the table.

The poison wasn't fading; it was resisting antidotes.

The girl beneath them was awake; she began to shift as sweat started beading on her skin.

"Shibi-san, do I have your approval to use a method on your daughter that can save her life?" Tsunade's voice was soft, yet hard as she looked at the man.

Shibi nodded.

Sakura took another glance at the prone form beneath her.

This was Shina? She'd never seen Shina without her jacket on. Or without her collar buttoned up.

"I need water here, now. Sakura, apply pressure to the wound on her throat and heal her as best as you can, keep your focus on that wound because we _have_ to stop the bleeding first."

Sakura nodded, and for the sake of her fellow graduate ignored the black lines creeping up on the girl's body.

Tsunade began the treatment.


	18. Chapter 18

Shibi pretended not to be worried, for the sake of his daughter and the sake of his clan. He decided to go to the one he hated.

Danzou's office was open, a candle the only thing that lit the room.

"Stay away from my clan," Shibi said bluntly. "Or I will see you to your grave."

He walked off, acting as though he hadn't just threatened the life of an Elder.

He made his daughter's protectors wards of his clan; he would no longer acquiesce to any show of force that Danzou made. It was arranged quickly and quietly, the two hospitalized teens remaining in their hospital beds under heavy Aburame guard while Tsunade worked tirelessly to stop the poison from killing his daughter.

At the end of the day, Shibi stood near his daughter's room, hearing nothing. No cries, no sound but Tsunade ordering more water.

At last, everything went quiet. The light above the door turned green, and the nurses walked out, looking exhausted.

His heart nearly stopped as Tsunade came out of the room with her student, her student's hands covered with blood.

"She needs more blood," Tsunade said as a greeting. "But it's not critical yet. She'll survive; know anybody with her blood type?"

"Yes," he nodded. Some members of his clan had AB blood. "I shall ask them to donate their blood." He turned, heading towards the door, when a thought occurred to him. He paused. "Please move her to Aburame Torune's room."

Tsunade nodded. "Very well."

~:~

Naruto had a bad feeling.

As she stared at Ero-Sennin's manuscript, she started to feel a bit sick.

She stood up, walking outside and for now ignoring the manuscript, looking out towards Konoha.

 _Something is terribly wrong._

For an instant, it seemed the world turned black-and-white, some of the trees turning black as the white was overtaken. As she stared, the white suddenly began attacking the black with a vengeance.

She blinked and it was gone.

~:~

Shikamaru waited anxiously for news. Since Naruto had gotten her apprenticeship with Jiraiya, Shina had been training with Asuma-sensei for some secret reason she wouldn't say. He himself had been training with the other members of his clan and Ino and Chouji; even though they weren't a team right then didn't mean that they eventually _couldn't_ be like their parents.

Ino turned to him. "- think, Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru looked at her blankly.

"What?" he asked. "I wasn't listening."

Ino looked angry and opened her mouth.

A ninja - an Aburame - appeared in their group.

"She'll live," the Aburame reported.

"Something _was_ wrong," Shikamaru said. "What was it?"

The Aburame stared at him from behind his coat and glasses.

"She's in the hospital."

Shikamaru sighed as the Aburame vanished.

"How troublesome," he said.

He then looked at Ino.

"And no, Ino, I don't think you should diet. You'll need your energy for missions."

He walked off, heading to the hospital.

~:~

Shina woke up to the hospital smells and a game being played.

"I spy... Something black."

"The Nara's hair."

Looking over, Shina managed to keep her solemn face - only just barely.

Fu and Torune were in hospital gowns, both of them managing to look ridiculous as they looked bored and... Well, it was mostly the hospital gowns, really. They looked stupid.

"Shina!"

Shina turned her head - only to wince as she felt the skin on her neck stretch.

"Doctors said to be careful," Shikamaru said. "You don't want to rip your stitches."

She nodded a little.

"At least you're alive," Torune said. "You nearly died."

"Apparently that is what I do," Shina rasped, sitting up. "All I am good for."

She coughed and winced. Shikamaru handed her water.

"You lost a lot of blood," Shikamaru informed her. "And there was the fact that you had _poison running through you."_ He raised an eyebrow at her. "Care to explain?"

Shina shifted. "Asuma-sensei and I have been training to stop the Supaida clan from killing our clan." She looked at Shikamaru blankly. "I did my part."

"More than," Torune interrupted. "You set the mountain on _fire."_

"It collapsed, from what we hear," Fu said, tapping his chin. "The nest was all that supported the mountain. When one of the supports collapsed, everything did."

He sounded proud.

"I killed off an entire species," Shina said tonelessly. "I am not proud of that."

There was a silence.

"Sorry," Fu said. "But you saved everyone in your clan."

Shina nodded and closed her eyes. "I was told to save the eggs." She drank more of her water. "However..." She let the glass dangle from her fingertips.

A cold feeling ghosted over her, and she looked up.

Time froze, and sound seemed to melt away.

Her mother's spirit stared at her for a long, long time. Shina dropped the glass, and it fell to the ground.

Her mother finally smiled, and her image burned itself away, the faint scent of smoke bringing Shina back to the present. The glass shattered with the ground.

"Shina, you look like you saw a ghost!" Shikamaru looked extremely worried for her.

"I am fine," she said, recovering. "I find myself exhausted. I wish to rest," she said to him.

Shikamaru nodded. "Alright, I'll come by when I can." He stood and walked to the door, pausing and turning at the door. "Next time, _tell me_ you're doing something stupidly dangerous, you troublesome girl."

He walked out of the room. Shina blinked at his retreating back.

"Young love!" Fu announced. Torune _giggled._

Shina wondered if it was just her, but the longer they weren't with Danzou the weirder they seemed to get.


End file.
